Eleneth, or the wonderful misadventures of an elf
by calculon
Summary: A story of a semi retired adventurer and her friends in the city of Waterdeep and beyond. It is more of a character study and social interactions than any real swashbuckling or adventuring.
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1

Eleni had sat in the tree branch for a good long while now, and began to worry. She occasionally shielded her purplish blue eyes with her slender hand and stared hard into the well traveled dirt road that led towards and across the wooden bridge in the distance as if willing the stocky form of the dapper dwarf to appear by the sheer force of her will and boredom alone. Of course it failed, and the elf girl blinked away the dirt in her eyes that the playful summer wind had deposited there with a woosh, saying, "Come on Duron...hurry up.."

Only the birds answered her pleading however, and Eleni sighed for the twentieth time this afternoon, mentally counting with an inward groan. Honestly, she didn't know why she put up with this nonsense, she told herself with righteous indignation. But in the back of her mind, she knew. Duron always brought back coins from his little escapades, and sometimes bright baubles too. Her pulse was still light enough, matter of fact always light, for Eleni to put up with this "nonsense" that she hated with all the aloof and haughty airs her elven heritage could muster and bluster. It never failed to cause Duron to lightly chuckle and pinch her buttocks for her troubles however. It was all a grand game to him and that is what annoyed the elf girl the most.  
Eleni debated whether to let out another shuddering sigh, and looked down at her tight fitting dark blue dyed leather pants and her well worn boots that was in need of resoling. Her hands absentmindedly worked on a number of braids that already adorned around her delicate face. She got a hold of one of the long strands of her hair that hung about her pointy ear, and started her fingers working on the length of it that refused to cooperate, escaping all her attempts at trying to get it to braid. Eleni was about to let out another deep sigh, when she noticed a shape coming along and over the wooden bridge. The elf girl began to smile and noticed with some alarm that the shape, which happened to be of a correct height and shape that matched Duron, was also being chased by shapes of other sizes. Most of them happened to be carrying weapons, it seemed.

Eleni shimmied down from her perch on the tree as lightly as any feather could manage, being careful not to step on the pile of travel packs and Duron's rather ridiculous looking sword that looked like a fencing rapier. The elf girl was in the process of dusting off her short sleeved white silken tunic that she had just recently cleaned when Duron's breathless voice reached her, full of panic.

"Run!" Duron's voice floated toward her as Eleni's sensitive ears also picked up words from his pursuers, which included, "Stop him!", "Kill the wretch!", "Don't let that cad get away!"

The dwarf was quite the sight. His dusky brown ponytailed hair that he had brushed and greased this very morning had already seen better days, looking more akin to a wild shrubbery now than anything else. And his neat fluffy sleeved shirt and pantaloons were generally dissheveled and torn in places. The acrid smell of cheap beer also assaulted Eleni's nose as the dwarf came closer, and she did the only thing that she knew would save him. She yanked Duron's sword from its scabbard, and threw it at Duron. It landed with a metallic thud on the ground in front of the running dwarf, impaling itselt by its point. The dwarf fairly lunged for the pommel and without breaking stride, grabbed it, rolled forward to keep the momentum, and kept running until he was upon Eleni, stopping and whirling around with a wild look in his eyes. Eleni, however, made no movement to her weapons however. "Elle...my girl, back me up on this..." Duron whispered harshly under his breath as the figures, which turned out to be the men from the village, surrounded them with their crude cudgels and pitchforks, as well as a rusty sword or two. Duron's eyes were already making calculations, the elf could see. Eleni slowly turned around, taking in the crowd of mostly curious onlookers and the occasional angry faces that stared back at her with hardness.

"Whatever my friend here did, I apologize profusely." Eleni stated to speak slowly, her purplish eyes falling upon the ones that were here to see the show. "We will try to make restitutions if we are able. We are mere travellers to these lands and we certainly do not want trouble..." Eleni continued as she saw some of the men's look soften at the sight of her entreaty. "Whatever he did could not have been so terrible. He is a harmless dwarf who..."  
One of the angry looking men cut the elf off sharply with a curse that colored Eleni's cheek. "A harmless dwarf! The horny wretch forced himself upon the mayor's wife!" he growled, his eyes full of fire.

"I saw it with my own eyes! He took her to the stalls and had his way with her!" another man chimed in, waving his pitchfork toward Duron. "She had no chance! None at all! She was ravashed! Her screams still echo in my ears!"  
Duron cleared his throat and replied in a rather matter of fact voice, "Of course she screamed, my good man. She was most vocal in her approval of my actions. I daresay, the old girl hadn't had a good..."

"Duron!" Eleni admonished in a rather ladylike fashion, her cheeks crimson with embaressment.

"You wound me, Elle." Duron stated in a rather hurt voice. "The lady favored me and I did her service. She was most greatful before the louts here chased me out of the village. I was more the victim here than she, mind you. She is not the usual fare that I take on as a client, but she paid well enough..."

"Lies!" the man with the pitchfork screamed. "She told us that you had forced yourself upon her!"  
Duron yawned lightly, trying to piece together what little dignity there was left for him to cobble together. "Of course she would, my dear good man." He began, using his sword like a cane and looking at him sagely. "As all good ladies of breeding are wont to do if they were caught in the act of a little tryst with a handsome, mysterious stranger. Be a reasonable fellow. I only spell this out for you as no other fine gentleman of my station are apt to do since you and your friends have greatly misunderstood what had transpired between me and the lady."

The first man narrowed his eyes at this and spat out, "Look at that short treestump, primping and frumping like some Waterdhavian lord. Know your place, dwarf. You eat dirt and rocks in your mountains. I smell the odor of ore on you. If you had thought that us simple country folk would be awed by your manner and your strumpet of an elf wench there, you're sadly mistaken." The man then turned to the rest of his fellows, and said, "We will place them both under arrest until our mayor returns from his trip."

Eleni held up her hands in front of her and said, "Wait a minute. Let us all calm down here. I am sure we can come to an understanding." Her eyes were already reading the hidden, dark intentions that some of the men had in their faces as they inched forward toward her. She knew that she would suffer the supposed fate of the mayor's wife, or worse.

Duron lightly covered a yawn with a produced handkerchief and picked up his sword, twirling it in the air and catching it neatly. "Dear, dear humans. Why must you all persist in this course of action. So ready to judge to the quick, coloring me with your prejudiced eyes." He neatly parried the first thrust aimed against his gut, merely turning the rusty sword away with one hand while covering his mouth from another yawn. "By the way, as your mayor's lady can attest to, I am not short in the least. Where it counts." Duron continued, smacking the man with the sword across the face with the flat of his blade when he lunged for the dwarf once more in a clumsy attempt to behead him. It caused the man to yelp and drop his sword, covering his red, swollen face with his hands.  
Eleni yelped when the men came rushing forward to grab her. They were all coming for her at once, the three of them. "Duron! Do not hurt them!" was all Eleni had time to blurt out as she slid forward between one of the men's legs and rolled forward into a quick handstand, pushing off hard and over the stunned young boy who happened to have followed the mob. She watched in shock as one of the men raised his club to strike at where she was, and attempted to finish through the stroke on the boy's head, his face etched with frustration and anger at having been fooled. As if in slow motion, the elf girl saw the young boy's face contort first into surprise and then his eyes start to close shut. Half way through the landing, Eleni made a quick choice, and twisting her body in contortion, she made a quick motion with her left hand. A small shiny dagger flew out from the grasp of her slender finger like a questing, silvery bird, and sailed on with a deadly whistle that ripped into the air and on, and skim the wrist of the man that held the club, drawing blood and causing the man to scream and drop his club. Eleni sighed to herself with resignation as her momentum died and she felt the ground meet up with her rather quickly with a rushing sound. The sudden sensation of the earth slamming into her back was a shock to her even though she knew it was to come, as the breath left her lungs with a rush. She continued to roll anyway, curling herself up into a little ball. Her eyes drifted over to the young boy, who kept his eyes shut tight against the world around him, only the wind rustling through his brown, curled hair. Eleni watched on as the boy slowly opened his eyes, searching for the blow that was to dash in his brains, and finally locked eyes with Eleni's own. The elf girl gave him a quick wink and rolled out of the way to the left as a man's body slammed into the ground at the spot where she had been. A jabbing stick was aimed at her throat now, but eleni saw the blow coming even before the churlish man had acted, and grabbed onto the stick to pull her forward as the surprised man pulled back on the stick. Her hand flew over and past the man's eyes as she broke out into a run past him. The man screamed and clutched at his eyes as the crunchy sound of a handful of dirt smashing against his wide open eyes and face registered to the elf girl's pointed ears.  
The confused and stunned onlookers gave her way as Eleni kept running, with the man with one of the few serviceable looking swords in his possession hot on her heels. Eleni suddenly reached up with both hands without breaking stride, grabbing onto the low hanging tree branch that she had sat upon just a few blissfully silent and peaceful moments ago, and swung herself up, the momentum of her run carrying her through the top in a graceful yet quick arc, and then with her legs kept together the elf rushed downwards through the swing, planting both her boot prints into the back shoulders of the surprised man that had been chasing her. The blow, with all the momentum that her small body could muster, had a telling effect as the man pitched forward in midstride, the sword in his hand tumbling out of his grasp as he fell face first into the grass covered dirt with a heavy thud. The elf girl let the branch go as she swung through, landing in front of the prone man's head and picking up his sword. She spun lightly around on her heels as if pirouetting, her tightly woven braids that framed her face whipping about like black tendrils.

"Stop her! She's about to kill Jonas!" A voice called out from the crowd. That was all that Eleni needed as she threw the sword away from her as far as she could, and broke out into a run and into the woods. She spared a quick glance towards Duron, and her lips broke out into a smile as she saw the dwarf barrel through the gathered men in a very dwarf like fashion, their meager possessions clutched to his broad chest. Duron stopped midway, as the crowd that were hot on his heels did as well as if on cue. He spun on his heels, cleared his throat, and intoned with a curt bow, "I thank you all for your hospitality or lack thereof as it were, good sirs and gents, and I use those terms very very lightly. You shant see me in these woods, for you see, I think of your women in these parts as no better than smelly breeding cows with diseased udders..."

"Kill him!"

"Well, toodles and all that." Duron quickly announced, breaking out into a run once more, following the sounds of the elf girl's haunting giggles that echoed like ghostly voices amongst the trees that led deeper into the forest.


	2. chapter 2

Chapter 2

"So that's it?" The young man asked with a whiny note to his voice. He wrinkled his pointy nose and then grimaced, making Eleni smirk at his silly ways that she found endearing. The young man looked mock hurt and harumphed with some amount of flair, reaching for a goblet of wine on the table, taking care not to drag his white, ruffled shirt sleeve over a greasy puddle of food left on his half finished plate. He took a careful sip, dabbing his lip with a perfumed hankerchief that almost made Eleni sneeze, and then carefully placed it into the pocket of his velvet vest. "That's how you lost your precious dagger? If you ask me, I would have let the brat have it. If that dagger is as precious as you say. The gods know how those...things breed like rabbits. If you ask me, the world will not miss one little toady little boy that would have turned out to be some pig farming, dirt eating peasant that will no doubt in time produce more of his ilk when he gets his loins in a dander over some ridiculous rutting festival that their kind tend to have in harvest time. Ye gads! The mere thought of their ilk rolling in the hay pawing at their.."

Eleni cleared her throat, thus cutting the young man off. "The things you say, good half elf!" The elf girl began with some hint of mirth in her voice.  
The young man half giggled at this and replied evenly over a sudden din of voices that carried over to their table, "You know there ain't a bit of good in me, girly girl. You know I am rotten to my very core." He practically purred as Eleni smiled at this and patted the green painted lute that sat on her lap. The instrument had seen better days, with worn out yellowing pegs that were supposedly ivory, but looked more of suspicious stock. The paint was chipped in several places as well, showing a bit of dry rot, yet the tunes played out true and clear, and as lilting as a dancing cat as Eleni gently ran her fingers across them.

"And I love you for who you are, Tonio my very good friend." Eleni said as her fingers half seriously tinkered with the opening bars of a sailor's lament as her eyes playfully gazed upon the young man's handsome face that looked very feminine. Indeed, it seemed to Eleni with some inner amusement, that if he were so inclined to do so, he could possibly pass himself as one if he wanted. "Anyway, that was quite a long time ago by your standard..20 years, I think. It has been awhile since Duron and me traveled abroad." The hem of Eleni's silken, yellow gold dress whispered as she crossed her legs, scooting them out of the way of a passing bar maid who had her tray full of frosty mugs of ale.

The young man tapped his clean shaven, smooth chin with his forefinger. "20 years ago you say. Mmmm.. that has been quite a while then." He began, his voice musing and silly. "I believe I was still in the monastary back then. Chanting and chanting and more chanting about the goodness of Tyr and all that. How utterly boring." He yawned for emphasis. "You know, my parents had such high hopes for me. I was such an utter disappointment to them when I was refused entrance into the Order. In more ways than one. Do you know, Elle, that they still firmly believe that my preference in men is just a passing fancy?"

Eleni shook her head at this, her straight, jet black tresses whispering against the skin of her neck. "I don't know, Tonio. I feel bad about lying to them. They are so nice and so sincere in their like for me. I think they'll be devastated to know that I am not really your girlfriend." Eleni frowned as her finger played a sour note and then put the lute away with a sigh.

"Don't be silly!" Tonio said with a harumph. "If they can't accept me as who I am, then they deserve to be fooled. Let them live in their little fantasy world and I'll continue to live mine."

Eleni reached out and held Tonio's hand, saying gently, "But still, Tonio. You should tell them. There is nothing as liberating as living a truth. Your parents love you very much. That much I can tell. I am sure if you were to give them half a chance..."

Tonio rolled his eyes at the elf girl's words and withdrew his hand away from hers, replying incredulously, "Eleneth! Sometimes you can be so self righteous and preachy! I know you mean well and I know that you are my friend, but please do not lecture me on how I should live my life!" Tonio was about to continue, but when he saw the elf girl's eyes downcast at his outburst, he sighed and replied as he brushed away his well coifed and scented chestnut hair, "I know I'm being a bitch. I know! I didn't mean that, Eleni. It's that sometimes I can be so defensive. Lliira knows how I can be so when it comes to my parents. Believe me though when I tell you that as soon as I tell them, I will lose everything. My inheritance, my titles, everything. They'll disown me!" Tonio leaned back in his chair with his hands behind him, supporting his head. He scratched at his scalp uncomfortably but smiled as Eleni looked up at him with one of her own.

"Listen, I have to go back to work." Eleni began as she picked up her lute again.

Tonio made a face at this and replied, "When are you going back out with Duron again?"

The elf girl stood up, smoothing out the wrinkles on the front of her dress with her free hand as she replied, "Oh I don't know. Duron seems to want to settle down here in the city. He's quite in demand, you know."

Tonio snorted at this and shook his head. "Working as a male escort!"

Eleni bit her lower lip and replied, "Well.."

"And what of you Eleni, are you satisfied with being a tavern minstrel?" Tonio demanded

The elf girl replied, "It's steady work, Tonio. You don't know what it's like, out there. So many uncertainties..."

"Better than being harrassed and groped by drunken taverners. I know what goes on when I leave you, Eleni." Tonio replied evenly.

Eleni smirked and replied, "The drunks I can handle. But you do not know, Tonio. How can you! The nights and days of going hungry without shelter, not knowing where your next coins, or even a brief reprieve was going to come from. Me and Duron lived and breathed the life of danger and death for so many years with so little to show for it save our health...and so many enemies. Far too many..." Eleni cast her glance at the crowded, smelly inn filled with the half drunk evening crowd, and breathed the air laced with alcohol and over cooked meat in deeply. On the elf girl's face was a wan smile. "I traded that all in, for this." she continued, giggling at herself. Her voice, however, was not as light and convincing to Tonio's ears.

"You miss it. I can tell! I see it in your eyes, pretty little elfmaid!" Tonio quipped, half serious and his voice carrying a hopeful note. "You miss the excitement, the grandeur! Knowing that glory and wealth is within reach!"

Eleni smiled sadly at Tonio's words, and replied, "All those things you seek are so fleeting."

Tonio winked and answered back, "Yet there are those of us who cannot do without them." The half elf frowned suddenly, and then snapped his fingers. "I got it!"

Eleni shook her head and replied, "Tonio..."

"Please!" Tonio whined, making a face. "You could join us! We are going to go spelunking down to a cave that young lord Carstens found the other day. He had told me that he heard mysterious voices and strange carvings on the entrance. Drow carvings. He swears that it's an access tunnel used by drow raiding parties and merchants."

Eleni chuckled at this and said in a mock serious voice, "Carstens! Horatio Carstens? You mean the one that found an entrance to a beholder's lair that turned out to be a skunk's nest?"

Tonio, with pleading in his greenish eyes, replied, "This time he swears to it! On his honor!"

Eleni frowned and put her hands on her hips. "One of these days, dear Tonio, you and your noblemen roundabouts are going to get yourselves into deep trouble. Honestly! This is just foolishness. If it really was a tunnel that led down to the underdark, doubtless it would have been guarded to the teeth by a drow war party and you, dear Tonio, would be attending Horatio's funeral by now. Besides, if this tunnel is as he says, he should be notifying the authorities. That would be the proper thing to do." Eleni knew where this was going to lead, with Tonio pleading once again to be fair and 'guide' him and his 'adventuring' group to glory and besides. The elf girl would have no rest from the half elf's whining and pleading until they had left without her on one of their little expeditions, more often than not covered with debries and suffering from a case of poison oak and no worse. Tonio's friends considered this adventuring game a mountain's height above their usual fare of slumming, which the half elf nobleman and his close friends looked down upon as stupid and dull these days. Eleni was about to speak more, but the familiar sight of Mr.Jensen the innskeeper stalking over her way caused her to swallow her words. "I think I better get back to work." Eleni blurted out, grabbing her lute by its neck.

"Ahh..there ye are, me goil." Mr Jensen began to drawl, his rough, scarred jawls jiggling as his words escaped his ponderous lips. Towering over the elf girl, Mr Jensen was quite a figure, with arms the size of a man's waist and legs as slender as toothpicks, supporting a rather bulbous body that threatened to escape out his faded, off green tunic. There were rumors abound about Mr. Jensen's heritage, and Eleni's bets were on the fact that there was some amount of ogre heritage in him. In any case, he wiped his gargantuan hands on the yellowish, garishly stained apron around his waist, and before Eleni could utter a word in her defense for her lax work ethics, he produced a small, wooden box from his pocket and held it out for her. "A mysterous gent wantid me ta give it to ya. I daresay dat he was quite taken wit yer songs or such." Mr. Jensen said, looking down at the elf girl. His voice however, caused the elf girl to regard her boss with a second glance. There was an intonation there in his voice that she had never heard before. Fear. She also knew that any little trinkets or such that the patrons had given her way were snatched up by Mr. Jensen before they had a chance to find their way to her. So this was an extraordinary thing indeed.

Tonio flustered an angry red as he said, "Who dares encroach upon my fiancee with such gifts! Do they not know that she is my betrothed to be!"  
Mr.Jensen stepped away slowly as he regarded Tonio with a small sneer, and said, "Ye'd best not findin' that answer if'n ye knew wot wud be gud fer ye, youngin lord." The innskeeper then turned to Eleni and said, "Ye're off'n t'night me goil. Wit full pay'n of curse."

Eleni held up her hand and then let it fall as the giant man stalked away from her. Her mind was somewhat troubled as she began to wonder what this was all about, and then directed her attention to the box, batting Tonio's hand away from the lid. The box itself was an ornately carved sandalwood with clinging ivy motif and runes that she recognized as elvish. Eleni guessed that the box itself was worth quite a bit of coins and was of the highest workmanship, which made the elf girl suspicious indeed that Mr.Jensen hadn't palmed it.

Eleni sat down again on the wooden chair, letting go of the lute. She began to examine the box with a critical eye as Tonio hovered about her.  
"Who dares encroach upon my lady!" Tonio seethed in anger.

Eleni held up her finger and placed it against Tonio's lips to call for silence, and then slowly opened the lid. The faint smell of lilacs escaped from the box itself, and Eleni gazed upon a dagger, a small silvery thing made to look like a little bird in flight. "Hummingbird..." Eleni whispered in awe as Tonio frowned and asked, peering over her slender shoulder, "What is this? Who would give you a dagger?"

"This is mine." Eleni replied absentmindedly as she picked up the dagger, noting the small parchment underneath that was folded neatly. She turned the light, feathery dagger in her hand and whispered, "What tales do you have to tell me..."

Eleni then picked up the folded up parchment, giving it a quick glance over and then unfolding it. On the parchment was a small missive, in a cursive common. When she finished reading it, Tonio whistled and said, "This can't be mere coincidence." He then took Eleni by the shoulders and turned her around in the chair to face him. "You telling me this story tonight of how you lost your dagger, and now it comes back to you this very night, with a mysterious stranger that wants to meet you, calling himself the black raven! Without your friend Duron no less! I smell the work of divinity at work here, or the fates!"

Eleni closed the box after placing the note inside, her violet colored eyes fixed on nothing in particular, yet they were questing. Her gaze lingering nowhere for too long as she nonchalantly scanned her surroundings. "Will you meet this person Eleni?" Tonio asked excitedly, sitting down next to her once more.

"Tonio, please go home. For me." Eleni said as she got up, clutching her lute and box. She gave him a light kiss on his cheek as he began to protest. "I need to go find Duron. Really, you know how he feels about you. You don't want to follow me." the elf girl continued as Tonio once again opened his mouth to protest. "Listen, I'll think about Horatio's little adventuring party. I promise. But only if you go home right now." Eleni said as she started to walk away from the table.  
Tonio looked both happy and disappointed at the same time, which Eleni thought was a pretty neat trick as he followed her toward the door. "I'll only go home if you agree to come. It will be tomorrow midday, at his estate." Tonio answered with all the petulance he could bring forth, causing Eleni to giggle despite her mood. The elf girl nodded quickly as the two of them walked out into the darkened streets of Waterdeep's Griffon ward district, the sudden chill in the air causing Tonio to chatter his teeth and shiver.

"Alright. Fine. Tomorrow midday it is." Eleni said and smiled, once again kissing Tonio as he gathered her up for a friendly hug. The embrace was short lived as Tonio let her go and said, "I can't wait until I tell the Unicorn company of our latest addition! Lorelei will flip her top with jealosy for sure!"

Eleni watched Tonio hail a coachman and get in with flair, and then focused her attention once again on the box as the coach began to roll away with clicking hoofbeats. A sense of unease began to brew within her mind as she regarded the box, and the elf girl began to wonder just who this black crow could be. To be sure, Eleni was familiar with the various factions and the guilds that populated and sometimes came in conflict within the city of splendors, but only up to a point. She began to reason that if this black crow were out to get her for something she and Duron had done in the past, the first salvo would not have been this cordial. But the elf girl also knew that she could not be sure. Not sure enough to be complacent, certainly. With that being said, Eleni turned her steps toward the small tenement where she kept her home across the street. If she was to face this unknown, she figured that she mind as well be ready for all eventualities.


	3. chapter 3

chapter 3 

Eleni did not think that it would be this much trouble to get an 'audience' with Duron. For sure, they usually met briefly once every few weeks to catch up and see how each other were doing, but as the years passed by and Duron seemed to be fully emersing himself in to the fabric of the city far better than she had imagined, the get togethers became fewer and fewer. The last time they had met was a full month ago, when Duron proclaimed that he finally had found a matron and mistress that he knew would bring him into the circle of nobility within the city that he craved so. Perhaps it was with some sadness and regret that the elf girl noted that Duron was still very much an employee of the Velvet Glove festhall, not exactly a place of good repute where a 'personage of his noble blood' was want to be in employment.  
It was a strange pairing, she and Duron. Stranger still was the friendship that still held fast even over so many years gone. There were times in the past where it was made plain that the dwarf was quite evil, and a little crazy besides, but for some reason in Duron's world, Eleni to him was a little sister that he sometimes spoke of in nights when he would get a few of his senses pieced together enough to speak of his past. Eleni did not know where the dwarf had hailed from, nor why he took on the persona that he did. But those things did not matter to her. All that she cared about was that Duron seemed to crave her presence next to him and with her by his side, he seemed to lose the blase' casualness that he had about murder and meyham. Up to a point. Eleni had been curious to know more of Duron's past at the beginning of their rather odd friendship, but in the back of her mind she knew that to delve further into the dwarf's soul would most likely cause him to wake from whatever dream that she thought he was living in. Instinctively, Eleni knew that it would be a dangerous thing indeed.  
When Duron finally entered the reception area of the festhall, he was looking rather dapper in a greenish silken bathrobe and smoking a pipe with a rather long stem, looking quite dignified. His tightly bound ponytail was streaked with a bit of gray, and his mustache was also looking iron grey in color as well. He frowned upon seeing Eleni seated on the cushioned chair, clutching at her lute at her side. "Leave us." he intoned to the waifish looking, half dressed women that were seated at the reception desk. They looked a little disappointed as they did as bidden, walking behind curtains that hid the inner recesses of the reception room. The dwarf then turned his iron gray eyes toward the elf and said in a rather disprooving voice, "Elee, my dear dear little one. This is not a place for children! I've warned you about coming to this house of ill repute!" He presented his right cheek to the elf girl as she got up with a smile and gave him a light kiss. "You do not look well. What has happened. Did that fluffy creampuff of a fiancee do something to you?" Duron asked, his voice darkening as he took a seat next to Eleni.  
The elf girl shook her head. "Nothing of the sort, Duron. You know he wouldn't hurt a fly. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body."  
Duron took a long drag from his pipe and looked at the elf girl critically, saying, "Still, I do not trust that one. He is not natural. Noble born he may be. Goes against all good common and decent folk. I've reason to believe...he's got the devil in him."   
Eleni kept her giggles in her throat as she shook her head and quickly changed the subject, saying with a smile, "You're looking very well, Duron. It's been too long since we've talked."  
The dwarf's features around his hard, gray eyes softened at this, and he said, "It has been quite busy for me, little girl. I know this may sound like an excuse, but things have become somewhat complicated here in these parts. So many things to do and so many things need my undivided attention. I am doing all that I can to climb my way from this forced setback in my station. You do not know how it is like, to live as these common folk do. Subsisting on their banalities." Duron palmed the pipe in his hand and removed it from his lips. He smiled at Eleni and added, "Be patient and wait for old Duron to work his magic, my girl. I'll make it all right for both of us. I will get us both out of this dungheap of mediocrety and to a place where we can live like the nobility that we are." He then reached into the breast pocket of his robe and withdrew a small, leather bag, pressing it into Eleni's hand. "Just like old times, little girl. You can count on me." Duron said as Eleni shook her head and placed the bag into the dwarf's pocket, patting it for good measure.  
"Duron, old friend." Eleni began as the dwarf began to protest. "I wish I was here to merely exchange greetings and catch up, but I'm afraid this evening won't be as simple in passing." She then pressed the sandalwood box into the dwarf's lap. "I've received this box tonight. Open the box and tell me what you see there."  
Duron looked at the ornately carved object on his lap and then at Eleni's face, and then carefully opened it. He took the note out first, and then the delicate, three pronged knife. "This is yours. This is hummingbird..." Duron began in wonderment. "But you lost this, if I remember correctly. Curious." Duron murmured as he went over the note as well. "The black crow. How utterly unimaginative and uninspired. You would expect such from scum of lowborn breeding stock." The dwarf muttered as he dismissed the note and tossed it back into the box. He then turned to Eleni with stern reproof. "Of course you are not going to meet this villain."  
Eleni shook her head and said, "I don't think he means me harm. He knew where I worked. He could have harmed me any time he wanted to if he so chose. And I am curious. So curious! You know how much I hate loose ends and unsolved mysteries Duron."  
Duron looked on darkly at this and replied in an upset voice, "And this is how precisely innocent young girls like you get into trouble! I won't have it, Eleni. No, I forbid you to go meet this black chicken."  
"Crow."  
"Whatever. He can call himself a silver waterfowl that craps out gold bird poop as far as I care, the base scum. I smell danger afoot, my little girl. Absolutely not you will meet with this vagabond, this villain!" Duron exclaimed heatedly, and put his pipe back in his mouth, puffing on it in quick, angry successions. Duron and Eleni both sat in uneasy silence then, with Eleni turning the pretty little dagger in her hand point over point. She was recalling back to the time, the small shop in Amn that Duron had bought the dagger for her claiming it to be magical. But Eleni knew even back then that it was merely just a well crafted, albeit an unusual looking weapon. The shopkeeper had told her that it was more of an ornament than a real dagger, and told both her and Duron that the edges were not keen enough to cut through butter, let alone hurt anyone. It had taken Duron a few weeks until he could make the edges sharp enough for Eleni's liking, and Eleni just a few seconds to prove the shop keeper wrong on all counts. There wasn't a doubt in the elf girl's mind that this was indeed her dagger, right down to the black, silken coils of her hair that she had worked into the woven handle that she had knitted for herself. Eleni held the handle of the little weapon in her fingers, rubbing on it thoughtfully as she looked over the blade, and then threw it sidearmed to her right. Duron and Eleni both watched as the tiny little blade whirled like a starfish in the air as it started to buzz about, whistling a single, soft note. The hummingbird flew on in a wide arc all of a sudden as the spin became greater, and then flew on and on until it started to snuff out the candles that the women had placed on the reception table in succession, buzzing about each candle by candle, weaving between each stalk until it lay spent on the table with a light clank, rattling there for awhile.  
Eleni got up and went over to the reception table, picking up her dagger. "I'm out of practice." The elf girl said somewhat disappointed as she examined the dagger once more.  
"All the more reason you should not go." Duron said as he also stood. "Promise me you won't, Eleni."  
Eleni smiled and walked over to the dwarf, giving him a light hug. She then went over to the box, placing the dagger into it and closing the lid. She was somewhat disappointed as she shouldered her lute. Eleni had thought that Duron would have been curious as well, and therefore would have wanted to accompany her in some fashion. She found herself being a little vexed as well, surprised at herself for not being happy that Duron had settled so well into a life that was to her so very boring and drained of excitement. But then again, she reminded herself, she had felt the same way about adventuring and intrigue as Duron obviously felt, and told Tonio so as well earlier in the evening.  
Eleni walked out into the cool evening of the city, turning her steps away from the festhall that still was brightly lit with garish colored lamps and bustled with activity. Ignoring the obvious leering looks and seeking hands, the elf girl made her way down the street, cradling the box to herself. "One little box to ruin what little semblence of normalcy I had built up for this long." Eleni said softly to herself as she walked on. "You know, things were just fine before you showed up. Just when I had everything figured out and where my place in the world was." The elf girl said down to the box in a musing voice. What upset her the most was that she was leaning towards doing something very rash, without thinking things through. Eleni thought sourly to herself that perhaps all the years of complacency, living in this giant of a city and being so "normal" had worn away at her sanity. As she reached the steps of her tenement, deep in her own little thoughts, she realized at long last that she was, afterall, very bored, and it took this little box to make her realize it after so long.


	4. chapter 4

chapter 4 

Eleneth let out a little grunt as she made the extra effort to get herself up to the roof, careful not to let her weight shift too much as to let loose the small, thin looking rain gutter she had used to support her endeavor up. She knew she was a slip of an elfmaid, but Eleneth herself knew that she often found herself telling little white lies about her weight, mostly to herself, and she wasn't about to find out just how far she was out of shape from her travellling days so many years ago. As the elf girl looked over the dark, cobbled streets of Waterdeep below with her hair being whipped to and fro from the freezing winds that came down from the spine of the world this tiime of the year, she shoved the self doubting voices that told her that her hiney was a little too round and womanly for her to be considered an elf girl no longer.

"This is so obvious...I mean, the first thing he'd expect me to do is to watch him approach from the rooftops.." Eleneth muttered to herself just above a whisper, cupping her hands around her eyes to keep her tresses from covering her vision. She had to admit though that her heart was now thumping against her chest, with her cheeks glowing rosey pink. Her amber eyes alight with a barely hidden joy that made her want to scream at the top of her lungs. "You are right, fair lady. I did expect it." a husky voice whispered barely an inch behind her ear, making her heart skip a beat. Eleneth knew that she was in trouble, having this stranger this close, her back totally exposed. Her hand flew toward the box she carried, which she managed to fumble out of her hands and watched it tumble off the rooftop and into the streets below with a small crunch, shattering it into tiny pieces of broken wood and splinters. "I did not mean to scare you..." the voice continued as Eleneth suddenly found herself swept up to her feet and locked in an embrace of sorts. She felt a heavily muscled forearm against the small of her back, with his cold hand wrapped around her hip. His other hand was neatly placed under her chin. The elf girl's head was spinning from the sudden vulnerable position she found herself in as she gazed up at the man's face, wrapped with a black cloth. His dark, coal round eyes gazed down at Eleneth's face as he whispered, "Still as beautiful as ever...Do not be frightened, elfmaid. If I sought to harm you, then you would have not even known it." He said soothingly and suddenly winced as Eleneth's free hand put the tip of her dagger against the man's back. He let out a low chuckle and then suddenly leaned down for a kiss, wrapping his clothed lips against Eleneth's. The elf girl let out a gasp of surprise as the kiss, over before it even began properly, ended, and found herself spun out of his grasp. She did not know for sure why she started to chase this man who stole her lips, but the game was irresistable to her. The man, dressed in black pantaloons and tunic, already was making a good headway across the rooftops, lightly tumbling and jumping over the dimly lit streets of the city. Eleneth was following close by, the dress she had worn earlier in the evening in tatters from the numerous snags and stained black with soot from the chimneys. She stabbed at the dress as she ran off the ledge of a corner smithy, ripping the length of it off her and turning it into a short skirt with frayed edges. The length of cloth floated down harmlessly to the streets below as the elf girl ran on and swung onto the clothing line across a rather large alleyway, cutting the length of it to swing across and landing on her toes at the window ledge of the house across the street away from the man who kept on running. She ran the length of the ledge as fast as she could, jumping over the opening window and the head of a very tired and angry looking man who looked shocked at her being there three floors up from the streets below, and then used the man's head as a springboard to flip herself up the roof, landing neatly on the sloping shingles on her hands. Eleneth's eyes were smiling as she spun herself up to her feet and jumped across to the other side, causing the hooded man to stop in front of her. She began to realize, as her eyes began to sting with her own droplets of sweat, that the years she had spent playing a bar minstrel was like a life led behind a opaque looking glass, distorted and unreal. This was truly her in the now, this feeling of quickening in her limbs, the little aches she felt in her legs, the cold wind blowing against her face, with only her body answering her whims as she knew it would, pushed to the limits.

"You didn't really think you'd get away that easily, did you?" Eleneth asked, her words coming out between small, quick gasps as her lungs burned from the sudden burst of activity. It felt wonderful to feel this way after so long, but it also made her feel very foolish and weak, knowing how out of shape she really was.

The hooded figure chuckled as he approached closer, saying in his low husky voice, "Who said that I was running away, little elf."

Eleneth's smile disappeared as she held out her knife, saying, "Don't come any closer."

"Why not." The man stated as he kept coming

Eleneth took a step backwards, and another, and another as the man approached closer. She felt the cold breeze whip against her bare legs and wished she didn't cut away her dress, of all things. Her eyes watered as she felt the back of her head hit hard against a brick chimney, but she dared not blink. Her eyes followed the mysterious man as he stopped within a touching distance from her, and followed his measured steps with her eyes as he circled her. The exhilating feeling of excitement disappeared so much like sand blowing away in the wind, replaced with a feeling of forboding and of utter dread. She knew she was in danger, and the dagger she held before her seemed ridiculously inadequate. Was it the man's presence that made her feel this way? Or the way his hard, black eyes looked upon her, making her feel weak and so naked.

"Do not be foolish, little elf." the man cautioned softly, knowing even before Eleneth put her body into action. She knew that he had read her shift in weight, and once again she felt extremely defenseless, like a candlelight fluttering away desperately in the breeze. "I told you that I would not harm you, didn't I." The man continued as Eleneth turned slightly to keep him in front of her, hugging the chimney behind her, clutching at the sharp, rough bricks that protruded out like scabs.

"You're the black crow." Eleneth managed to say, hoping that her voice gave herself some measure of strength. She desperately missed Duron and knew that the crazy dwarf was right in warning her.

The man chuckled again as he replied softly, "I am many things. That name being one that I picked out of my many hats."

"What do you mean."

"I mean what I mean. It piqued your interest, did it not? Plus the dagger you left behind so many years ago." The man continued as he circled. Eleneth knew that the circle was getting smaller with each of his steps. Her brain screamed danger and her limbs wanted to break out running. She felt herself trembling and she knew it was his gaze that was doing it, yet she dared not look away. "I know you. I have watched you for a long time now." He continued. "I know where you work, I know the friends you keep. I even know your pretend fiancee, the one that likes men and fancies to keep you by his side because he thinks it gives him something above his peers, like a special little jewel that no one else has. I even know your old friend Duron. Did you know that he was quite twisted? Oh yes, I know them all. And especially you."

Eleneth's heart was now beating furiously as her limbs became as heavy as lead. "Please..." she croaked out. "Don't..." she whispered pitifully as she felt his hand on her cheek, caressing her and pushing the strands of her hair away from her neck. The hand felt ice cold. "What...do you want..." she heard herself whisper as she heard her dagger fall to the roof tile with a clatter.

The man replied softly, "You."

Eleneth felt her world spinning as the man before her began to caress her. Then she remembered no more.

Eleneth felt the coarseness underneath her fingertips, around her body, as her eyes slowly opened. The first thing she saw was the unbearable bright light that filtered through her dirty stained windows, mercilessly beating down on her face. The next thing that popped hurridly in her mind in a panic is that she always left her curtains closed the evening before because, well because she liked to sleep late and her window faced east. The elf girl sniffed the air as she opened her eyes further, shielding her eyes from the light with her hand as she tried desperately to blink away the clawing remnants of sleep that once again began calling her name.

"Ow.." she moaned as she tried to get up, her head sending sharp, unpleasant pains bouncing in her skull. It was perhaps then she knew that she had been poisoned. Well, poisoned was probably too strong a word, she morosely observed. Hoodwinked. Yes, hoodwinked. She liked that word much better. She then remembered the kiss, and how she felt after afterwards, when she was chasing after that stranger all over the place over Waterdeep's rooftops. The sweet, slightly tangy taste of the stranger's lips. Or was it the cloth that covered his face that tasted such. She then quickly looked under the sheets to find with a sigh of momentary relief that all her clothes, or what remained of her dress that she had bought just a week ago from a travelling caravan that promised her that it was Amnian silk, was still on her. It was, of course, covered with soot and grime. It was ruined.

Eleneth knew that she had passed out. No doubt about that there. How she got back into her little loft above the corner bakery shop, and back into her bed, now that was a bigger mystery to be solved! The most logical thing that she could come up with was that the man had carried her here, and deposited her into her bed. She certainly couldn't have sleep walked back to her place, she noted with some grim judgement. At least for the moment, the knowledge that she had come to no immediate harm from last night's jaunty acrobatic craziness gave her some comfort, until she tried to get out of bed and realized that the little strain to carry out that little wee simple task caused her to groan out loud in pain. Every part of her body was aching right down to her little toes!

"You're such a fatty little piggy." Eleneth muttered to herself morosely as she fell back into her straw bed and covered her head with her threadbare blankets. "10 years ago...he would never have gotten me like that...10 years ago, I would not have been beat!" she stated angrily into the stuffy air of her wooly blankets.

Her mind then travelled down the road of just who this man was. Why did he take such an interest in her? If he knew who she was from her past, the who could it be? Then the last thing the man had said before she passed out, made her shiver a little with forboding apprehension. Duron was right. She was in danger. But yet, he had left her unharmed. After what seemed to be a long moment of suffocating silence where she absentmindedly stared at flecks of dust floating lazily in the air in front of her, Eleneth resolved herself once again to get out of bed. This time, she tried rolling herself out, and succeeded. Bending as little joints as possible to achieve standing, she winced and groaned as she hobbled herself over to a little porceline wash stand and a silvered metal piece of a shield that she had been using for a mirror, shrugging herself out of the dress. There she stood, staring at her reflection and sighing. Everything about the face that stared back at her screamed plain in her mind. And as she looked down to her toes, she sighed yet deeper as she noted the beginnings of a pot belly! "He wants this?" Eleneth muttered as she leaned her forehead against the mirror, staring at her reflection. She yelped as the shield, a cheap piece of souvenir that she had collected from her earlier travels, slipped off its mount and crashed into the wash basin and the rickety wooden stand that held it up. The porceline washbasin crashed to the floor with the sound that set the elf girl's teeth on edge, and sent the cold water splashing all over the floor and on herself.

"I should have stayed in bed!" Eleneth moaned aloud in frustration, and gingerly walked past the shards of the wash basin, her movements awkward and unbalanced. She managed to reach to the rickety closet that stood guard in the corner next to an empty coat rack adorned with bird feathers of all kinds and bits of colorful string, and grabbed a black leather pants that she thought were forgiving of her seemingly bloated body and a white, sleeveless cotton shirt that had a small collar.

Descending the stairs in somewhat a better mood, Eleneth surveyed the bake shop with its tables of day old breads and pastries in the back, and the fresh steaming loaves and honeyed cakes in the front shelves behind the store's front windows. The heat from the brick oven felt pleasantly nice as well as she watched

Henry, the baker and owner of this shop, stared up at her from his counter near the front of the store. Eleneth already saw a line at the counter that extended out to the streets. A busy day indeed.

Henry was a young man with a shock of brown hair that bordered on black, and had a beginnings of a mustache that he could never successfully grow fully, and always ended shaving off, more or less at Eleneth's off hand remark about how silly he looked. He had the burly arms of a sailor or a blacksmith from kneading and pounding on dough almost all his young adult life, and had what the elf girl thought were very kind blue eyes that never lost their wonder at things he didn't understand or comprehend, which involved most things outside of this bakery. He was never the type to hide his ignorance or had the foolish sense of egotistical self importance to mask it, a trait that Eleneth always found endearing ever since he was a little boy whom she used to babysit.

"Hey sis. Had a rough night, huh?" He said with a smile as he handed a bag of muffins to an old lady who smelled heavily of perfume and overly painted on face.

"Henry." Eleneth said as she smiled back at him, faltering as she saw drops of water seep from the ceiling and falling into Henry's bag of flours in the back. She noted the old woman looking at her disapprovingly and looked away.

"Here..catch!" Henry called out playfully, and Eleneth barely had a chance to snag a warm, sweetened roll in her hands before it went sailing away to the dark recesses of the bakery. "It doesn't have cream in it, does it?" Eleneth asked.

"Beggars can't be choosers." A saucy voice reminded as Eleneth turned the bread over and over in her hands. Betty, the new baking assistant, Eleneth noted. Well, that and Henry's potential betrothal material, or so his parents confided in her. Eleneth watched on as Henry frowned at the slightly overweight, dark haired lass with an apron around her midriff. "Yeah..yeah." Eleneth said with a smirk as she descended the rest of the stairs, trying to defuse Henry and Betty's potential conflict on her account. To truly show that she had no hard feelings on Betty's account, Eleneth bit into the roll, rolled forward into a handstand on the staircase, and then as her weight shifted foward, tumbled out of control down the stairs and then out the open door, taking out some of the customers who were waiting in line in front of the shop. "Owww..." Eleneth groaned as she rubbed at her back, half straddling an old man and a young woman who had happened to break her fall. The bread roll, well, rolled out of her mouth and into the streets.

"Git off me!" the woman screamed

"Hehe..." the old man leered as Eleneth scrambled to her feet and pushing his wandering hands away from her body, her face crimson from embaressment. Both from her fall and the snickers from the customers waiting in line at her expense. Of course, she also heard Betty's laughter mixed in there as well. Henry had come to her side quicker than she realized, and was saying, "Are you all right!"

Eleneth wiped the cream off her face and hair, succeeding in smearing it in even further into her long braids, and stammered, "Never...felt better. Ow..Henry, you better tend to your customers." She then started to limp away, shooing away Henry's protective hands. "Elle, come on. You're hurt, let me take you back to your room." Henry insisted after her as she kept on limping up the street as fast as she could. The elf girl only looked back once to wave and to make sure Henry wasn't following, and then winced as she was splashed with gutter water from one of the roof tops. "WHY!" Eleneth screamed at the top of her lungs, startling a horse that was tethered there next to a lamp post, causing it to nicker and step back from the elf.


	5. Chapter 5

It had taken repeated knocks on the door until it finally creaked open for Eleni, who stepped back and almost let out a gasp upon the sight of the woman, whose make up had run in all directions from rouge to eyeshadow in a garish clown like paste. "WHAT!" the woman screamed at Eleni, her bad breath almost making the elf girl gag. "What in the gods do you want at this hour!"

Eleni cleared her throat, once again trying to brush at the dried cream that still stubbornly clung to her face. "I was wondering if I could talk to Duron..." She began timidly as the woman glared, her sleep deprieved eyes blood shot and baneful! "Could you tell him that Eleni"

"NO I CERTAINLY WILL NOT!" the woman continued to yell as Eleni took a step back away from the door, cringing. "We are closed! Can't you see our hours on the door! Now go pester someone else!" WIth that said, the garishly painted and decorated door slammed shut with a loud crunch. Eleni debated whether to knock again, but let her hand drop. She was frankly afraid of what that angry courtesan would do if she dared bother her again. And as if she had read Eleni's mind, the door opened up a tad once more, and the woman glared at her. She looked every bit the demoness from the darkest reaches of the 9 hells, her garish face framed by tangles of gold dyed hair. "You...knock on this door again, and I am going to personally break every one of your fingers." She promised darkly, and before the stunned elf could reply, the door slammed shut once more.

Eleni stared at the door for a full minute in stunned silence, and then, as her amber colored eyes flashed greenish, she gave the door several large raps with both of her hands as if playing a drum, and then ran away up the streets without looking back

The elf girl surprised herself when she found that she had ran all the way out of the district and into a place of large, beautiful mansions with their ornate gardens and beautiful fencing. The people that walked the streets here all seemed to be dressed in one opulent clothing or another, and she saw more than one flash of precious jewelry that would have been easily worth a year's pay at her current job. Eleni of course felt immediately self conscious, half covering her stained cheek and the strand of her black, braided hair that clung there as if it's been bonded by dried cream to her cheek. Her eyes searched down one wide, cobblestoned avenue after the other, not even knowing where she was. Just like me to not know where I am and get lost in my own city! Eleneth muttered to herself as no familiar landmarks greeted her eyes. She had ran on mindlessly, not daring to look back to see if that harpy had followed her from the festhall, although she was sure that she had up to a point. Eleni would have had to have been deaf not to hear the insults that began from her elven heritage right down to the slugs that bore her as well as the threats of torture and death more gruesome than she cared to admit.

"Heeeyy! Ellie!" a man's voice called out from a distance, causing Eleni to break out her reverie of narrowly escaped torture and death by the hands of a courtesan. She looked around for the source of the voice, and to her right, she saw, amidst a birdbath in the shape of a small cherub surrounded by tropical shrubbery, Tonio's smiling face. He was waving frantically at her. "Corellon be praised!" Eleni murmured to herself as she quickly made her way across the street, and toward the fenced compound, clutching at the black painted iron bars when she got there. "Tonio! Just the person I wanted to see!" Eleni said excitedly. The half elf smiled at Eleni, coming over to her and pointing toward the entrance where there was an ornate, decorated gate. "You're just in time, Eleni. Tymora be praised, I have really lucked out!" Tonio continued in an excited voice, dressed in a velvet pantaloon and hose, with a matching green silk shirt. "What do you mean?" Eleni asked as she quickly went over to the gate. As soon as she walked in, Tonio grabbed her hand and started to pull her toward the front doors of the mansion, a 3 stories affair complete with huge wooden front doors that was as 3 times as tall as she was. "You have to help me! Grammy wants to marry me off to one of her friend's granddaughters!" Tonio replied, his voice desperate but his face smiling as if hiding a secret mirth. Eleni slapped Tonio's hand away and said, "I know where this is going, and I want no part of it." The elf girl yelped as Tonio grabbed her from behind, picking her up and then reorienting her toward the front door. "Noooo! You can't leave me in the lurch like this! You have to be my fiancee now, Eleni! You just gotta!" Tonio wailed desperately. "I don't want to marry a girl. You have to play your part like you always do"

Eleni struggled against Tonio as she screamed, "You know how much your grandmother hates me! She promised to cut my ears off if I showed up here again! Let me go"  
"She means that in a good way..." Tonio gasped out as he started to drag her toward the front door of the mansion, dragging Eleni's struggling form up the stone steps. Eleni struggled with him each step of the way, saying desperately, "I don't...what? A good way? How...? I don't want to see your grandmother!"

The door opened suddenly, and standing there was an older woman with white streaked blond hair that was severely pulled back with a pin. She looked at the struggling duo with stern, cold blue eyes as she smoothed her dark, navy colored dress that was without frills, reaching down to her ankles like a sheet. "Master Colson, Lady Colson kindly requests that you and your...lady stop making fools of yourselves, and bid you enter, at her pleasure. She is awaiting you both." The woman said, finishing by staring openly at the elf girl, who had by this time seized struggling and now was being carried by Tonio in his arms. Her gaze, Eleni decided, was definitely tinged with disaproval. She knew that she was unwelcome at this house. Tonio's grandmother's threats aside, the lone visit she had at this place was when Tonio had announced her to his parents as his fiancee, which, at that time, consisted of Tonio's father and grandmother. She did remember back then when she visited that she was feeling somewhat comforted by the fact that Tonio's mother, an elf, would be there to make her feel somewhat welcome, and also remembered her disappointment when she was informed that she no longer lived at the house, of which, she was told in no uncertain terms, she was not to ask or delve further into the reasons why. Matter of fact, she was told by the grandmather, just before she was threatened with clipping of her pointed ears, that no grandson of hers was going to bring in another flighty elf to ruin an already disasterous household. The inner sanctum of the house hadn't changed, Eleni noted as she was put down by Tonio, who looked somewhat frightened with the prospect of speaking with his grandmother again. As the two of them followed the woman down the wide, tile laden floor of the house, Eleni noted the various expensive looking decorations and trinkets that she half recognized as something that wasn't really endemic to the area. She had heard that Tonio's father was some sort of a nobleman that dabbled in trade or some such, but to be truthful, Eleni did not remember Tonio's father much. That last meeting between the family and her had been somewhat of a brief one, and he had not spoken a word, merely staring at the floor the whole time while Tonio's grandmother berated the elf from her "scraggly black hair that was black as sin" to her "waifish thin appearance that reminded her of beggars.". Eleni had manners enough to not blurt out that the old woman looked like some sort of an ugly looking flounder she once had for dinner, then. As Eleni continued to follow, deep in unpleasant thoughts, Tonio whispered to her, "Please Eleni. Whatever you do, you have to stick by me. You can't be chased away by my grandmother again"

"Why!" Eleni hissed back, drawing an icy stare from the woman.

"I'll do anything. Please...please...I'll pay you. Anything." Tonio whispered back pleadingly as he hurridly followed, clutching at Eleni's hand. "I don't want to get married to that...woman"

Eleni looked at him and frowned. "What woman?" she asked, and then bumped right into the back of the woman, who had stopped before a wide archway that led to a library. "Lady, your grandson...and...his...associate." The woman announced, once again giving Eleni a look that made Eleni feel tiny and afraid. Eleni turned her gaze toward the room and the first thing that struck her were the wall to wall books in tall, marble bookcases that were more or less etched into solid stone walls of the room. The statues of woodland nymphs that adorned the large fireplace stared back at the elf next. A fireplace big enough to roast a whole cow in, the elf girl thought as her eyes followed the walls back toward the center of the room, where there were sedan chairs and couches upholstered with smooth, decorated fabric that was worth, Eleni noted, more than what she made in a year, singing her lungs out. Seated there amongst the cushions was the old woman, Tonio's grandmother. Her white, well coifed hair still done up like mushrooms, her flat, featureless nose, the close set blue eyes, the wide, almost lipless mouth. The elf girl bit her lower lip and remained still like a statue as the old woman's gaze fell on her like death rays.

"Grammy!" Tonio cried as he let go of Eleni's hand and hopped into the room, skipping toward her and then kneeling by her feet like some sort of a puppy, clutching at her wrinkled hand and kissing it several times. Eleni watched as the old woman patted Tonio's head as if on reflex, her eyes never wavering from Eleni. "See, I've broungt Ellie. My fiancee. We're going to be married next year." Tonio went on to say as Eleni gasped and felt her jaw drop at what was coming out of the half elf's mouth. "So there's no need, really. I mean, she's the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with." Tonio went on to say.

The old woman slapped Tonio upside the head as he continued to prattle on about the loving children he was going to have with Eleni, silencing him like a beaten dog, and said out loud, "Is this true! Speak, you girl"

Eleni merely stared, open mouthed, withering under the woman's gaze and the cold, icy silence that permeated the room. She spoke when she heard a little snickering that was badly covered up with a clearing of the throat by the woman that was standing next to her. "Ehm...Well, my lady Colson. That is.." Eleni began, her voice stammering. "Well, Tonio...my honey...he really hadn't..." Eleni went on, trying to not look toward Tonio, who had his face turned to her, his visage fixed on permanent supplication and looking as if someone's punched him in the stomach several times. "Y...yes. I...guess it is true." She finally said as Tonio quickly turned toward his grandmother and with a big smile and a hurried voice said, "See? Everything is fine. Just dandy, grammy. We are going to...ow!" Tonio cried as the old woman slapped him upside the head once more.  
"I see. I did not know things had progressed so far." The old woman said as Tonio rubbed his head, still cowering by her legs and not daring to turn Eleni's way. "Then there is nothing else to be done. Starting today, you will live with us and be trained in the ways of our household. You will learn the ways of being a lady of the Colson household." "What!" Eleni burst out and then quickly covered her mouth. "You will move your things into this house. Whatever they may be. Better yet, do not move them. I am sure the things you have accumulated over the years in this city is most assuredly not fit for this household." The old woman went on, ignoring Eleni's stunned look. "I will train you personally myself. I will first rid you of your slumming ways and teach you proper manners, starting with your...attire, which I find most offensive. Ladies do not wear pants"  
Eleni found her voice finally, and squeaked out, "But my lady, I have a job, a"

"You will of course quit your job. I have had you watched, girl. A lady of this household singing for supper at a slum establishment where the gods know what is going on! This I will put a stop to starting now"

Eleni stared desperately at Tonio, who acted like as if he wasn't hearing any of this, and pretended to purr into his grandmother's leg. Her first instinct, of course, was to tell the old lady what she really felt about her and her household. But she knew she couldn't do it. Tonio, for better or for worse, had helped her when she first arrived at Waterdeep. He was the one that found her gigs at the various inns and taverns around the lower parts of the city, and had even paid for her rent a year when she was really not making it as a musician. Duron, at that time, was heavily into gambling and had gambled most of their life savings away in short order. The dwarf had been so ashamed that he dared not show up to Eleni for months, finally visiting her one day to tell her that he had opened up a festhall when in fact he was hired on as an employee there. So Eleni heard herself say, "I will do as you say, lady Colson"

The elf girl's answer had taken the old woman by surprise, for she did not speak for some moments. This gave Eleni some measure of satisfaction, but the next words out of the old woman's mouth drowned up any moments of bliss she had conjured up with her discomfort. "Very well. You have made a wise decision. I will have the maids prepare your room." she said as Tonio giggled, covering his mouth with his hand. Eleni barely controlled her urges to slap Tonio upside the head herself as the old woman did just that for her.


	6. Chapter 6

"Tonio, I...am...going to kill you!" Eleni screamed as she reached out with both hands to grab at the half elf's neck. For his part, Tonio did not back away, and looked away as Eleni's hands wrapped around his throat. The two of them were in a room now, quite alone. Normally, the room's opulence would have stunned Eleni into some semblence of an awed silence, for it was about 5 or 6 times bigger than the small room she had rented above the bakery, with tall, wide windows that let in sunlight and offered a breathtaking view of the Waterdeep's ports and beyond. But, the elf girl had other, more pressing things in mind than care about the copper bathtub with dolphin latticework or the huge, canopied bed that was adorned with dried flower petals; namely throttling her friend to within an inch of his life. Eleni faltered however, when she noted that Tonio offered no defense, and even stuck his neck out for a better grip. "Just kill me! I don't deserve to live!" Tonio wailed, putting his own hands over Eleni's own and squeezing.

Eleni quickly snatched her hands away from his brittle neck, and then stepped back, putting her hands on her hips and glaring. "I know, I know. I behaved most foul, Ellie. I'm a lowly cur! I don't know why I am such a coward." Tonio went on plaintively.

Eleni let out a deep sigh, and replied in even tones, "I can't keep covering for you forever you know. You need to tell your parents the truth." She began and sighed once more as Tonio ran over to the bed and fell into the white, down sheets, burying his face in it. Drama! the elf girl thought gloomily as she once again glared at Tonio snivelling into the sheets.

"You're asking the impossible, Ellie! They'll disown me! You know how my grammy's like. She'll kick me out of the house for sure and I'll end up living in the beggars' square. I'm too delicate to live that way! I...I am allergic to dirt!" Tonio complained in a breathless way, causing Eleneth to wonder if he had rehearsed these lines for they came out one by one without even a hint of a pause.

Eleni groaned and looked up to the ceiling, muttering, "I must have been crazy to agree to any of this.." She then stalked over to Tonio to loom over his prone form and said clearly, "Just marry that woman, whoever she is"

Tonio writhed in the sheets like a landed fish and replied miserably, "I can't! I want you to marry me"

Eleni replied in frustration, "Don't you think you're taking this whole thing a little too far? I mean, I was willing to play my part in fooling your family, but remember I always said that I was only going to until you found the courage to tell your family!"

"I can't! I can't!"

Eleni moaned with all the frustration she could manage, "I don't want to marry you! You don't know how important marriage is to me! I don't want mine to be based on a lie, a sham!" The elf girl reached down and started to yank Tonio off the bed. "And I'm not willing to give up my music career for your family either! Do you know how much I suffered to get to where I am! I'm finally beginning to get noticed! My next big break is just a few more days away!" Eleni continued in desperation as she let go of him. Tonio had apparently formed a permanent bond to the bed like an abalone and was impossible to dislodge no matter how hard she tried. Eleni sat next to Tonio, putting her hands in her lap and letting her feet dangle. She glanced at Tonio, who was still hiding his face from her. "There's something else I have to tell you." Eleni began, noting that Tonio was no longer pretend crying and sobbing. "Do you remember the box I got last night?" She continued, noting that she had Tonio's attention now. "Well, I went to see him"

"You did!" Tonio replied, revealing his face from the sheets. "Well, what happened? Was he someone you remembered? From your adventuring days? Was he good looking? Wait...I get it now." Tonio said, rolling up to a sitting position and glaring at her accusingly. "So this is what it's all about! You want to go away with him and leave me! After all that I've done for you! This is how you would repay me, Eleneth! Cast me aside on my darkest hour of need"

Eleni slapped the half elf upside the head and replied angrily, "Will you listen to me for once instead of acting like a spoiled brat! It's not like that at all!"

"Sure it isn't"

Eleni sighed deeply as if exhaling every little bit of air from her lungs, haunching over to stare at her hands. "I..think I'm in danger." Eleni admitted in a mousy voice. Tonio was about to retort, but held his tongue when he noted that the elfmaid was being serious. "He drugged me on the rooftops. I foolishly went after him, against my better judgement. He was quite skilled. Or is it that I'm completely out of shape now. I don't know"

Tonio narrowed his eyes as he asked, "Did he harm you?"

Eleni shook her head to his question, and replied softly, "No. At least I don't think so. He even returned me to my room while I was unconscious. But the last thing he told me was that he wanted me. I don't know why." Eleni then looked up toward Tonio, with her eyes full of worry. "Don't you see? This is another reason why I can't stay here. What if that man comes here? I don't want to expose you all to this. Even though I don't like your grandmother...I should never have agreed to stay here"

Tonio shook his head. "All the more reason why you should stay then!" He replied, putting a hand on Eleni's shoulder for comfort. "You're not listening." Eleni replied in an annoyed voice, shaking Tonio's hand off. "He said he knew all of my friends. He knew you and Duron, even where I work and live. He knows too much about me. Gods, he even gave me back the dagger I hadlost so many years ago in some backwater town! He's done his homework, and I don't know anything about him"

Tonio harumphed and crossed his arms across his chest. "All the more reason why you're safe here, Ellie!" He argued, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her towards him. "You can't go back to that hole in the wall. Totally unsafe. We have guards that patrol these premises both day and night. Not only that, I will help you find out more about this man. We have contacts, our family does! Spies, informers, people in high places and low on our payroll!" When Eleni looked unconvinced, he added hastily,"I am not going to let anything happen to you. After all, you are my betrothed and soon to be, lady Colson"

Eleni groaned at all of this and shook Tonio's hands off. "My life is such a mess." She moaned miserably. "I need to talk to Duron. He'll know what to do...No wait, he won't. I forgot that he was crazy..." Eleni then turned to Tonio and said desperately, "I need to leave the city"

Tonio looked crestfallen and replied, "You can't leave me like this Ellie! I thought you were my friend! My best friend"

Eleni swallowed the first few words that would have told Tonio where he could stuff his friendship, and then instead sighed once more. She gazed at the half elf nobleman, his fluffy white shirt with ruffles around his collar stained and wet with his own tears, his pitifully bloodshot eyes and crimson, irritated nostrils. She knew then that she did not have the heart to leave him in this predicament. She was kicking herself repeatedly as she heard herself say, "Alright...I suppose I could stay. But only until this mess with your grandmother is all fixed up. Somehow. Ack!" Tonio grabbed her and crushed the elfmaid against his chest in a gigantic hug.

"Oh Ellie! I love you so much!" He cried through his tears. "I won't ever forget you! I won't! I'll do anything for you! I know how to return the favor"

Eleni felt her teeth rattle as she was repeatedly shaken by the excited half elf, and barely managed to say, "Well, there is one thing...One tiny little request. Well, actually several little ones.."

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

"I still don't see why you need to do all this." Tonio said as he watched Eleni standing by the wall, on her hands. The elf girl's legs, which were tied together with a belt, teethering one way then the other, her face beet red from both the blood rushing to her face and from the exertion of trying to carry her extra weight on her hands and arms. She had been like this for a full 20 minutes now, and the half elf was starting to get worried. "I told you there was need to worry, Ellie. This estate is guarded better than a dragon's hoard. That man isn't going to dare come here. He may not even know where you are now"

Eleni started to carefully take small, measured steps with her hands, and as Tonio watched, teethered over too far to the front, falling into a heap with a light thud. "Ow!" the elf girl cursed, scrambling up to her butt and then undoing the belt. She then sighed deeply and replied, "I need to start all over. Diet, exercise. Then maybe this other stuff. My balance is totally out of whack. All just because I may have gained a little...weight." She turned to Tonio, who was seated on a velvet chair with his head propped on his arms, and remarked, "You've brought the stuff right?"

Tonio nodded slowly and said, "Sure did. I got a chunk of ore from the blacksmith, which I may add was quite heavy, and let's see..." He bent down to open up a cloth sack that was near his sandaled feet. "A long metal bar, also from the blacksmith...He thought I was crazy and kept asking me what I was going to do with those. I told him that I was making my own jewelry. Who knew that they could be so nosy?"

"Do you think I'm fat? Be honest!" Eleni suddenly asked.

Tonio asked, "What?"

"I said do you think I'm fat?" Eleni demanded.

Tonio replied saucily, "If you were any thinner, I'd have to force feed you. Look at yourself, Ellie. You're skin and bones"

"You're such a liar. You know how I know? Your nose twitches whenever you lie to me." Eleni shot back and then got up, walking over to the half elf, reaching down and grabbing the bag. She strained to lift the contents of the bag from the sheer weight of it, and finally succeeded in putting it on the nicely varnished, antique table that Tonio was occupying.

Tonio made a face and cautioned, "Careful, Ellie. You damage anything in here and grammy will have both me and your hide. She had this table made and delivered all the way from Amn."

Eleni rummaged through the bag, pulling out the rod and tossing it to the ground, with a loud clank, and then pulled out huge chunks of iron ore, which she strained to lift, and then pulled out strips of leather from the same bag. "I thought this was my room from now on. That's what your grandmother said." She replied evenly as she arraged the iron ores into the leather strips, tying each of them to her ankles. She then repeated the process to her wrists as well.

"You look ridiculous, do you know that?" Tonio said in exasperation, watching Eleni.

Eleni started to walk around, barely getting one foot off the ground and then the other, swinging her arms forward one by one to each step. "Stop complaining and tie the rope from one end of the room to the other like I showed you, will you? Can't you make yourself useful?" Eleni breathed out in an annoyed voice as she continued her plodding course to the canopied bed. Sweat was already starting to bead around her forehead, and it took a good 20 seconds for her to lift her hand to her face to wipe it away. Tonio watched the elfmaid continue her plodding course, and then with a sigh he reached into the sack to produce a cord of rope.

"I'm not cut out for menial labor." He muttered as he went over to one corner of the room to tie the end to it to the fireplace grate, just a few feet off the ground. He then walked over to the other corner of the room to tie the opposite end to the bedpost.

"Make it tight!" Eleni blurted out as she was in the process of passing by him on her way to the bed. Tonio did as was told, and made sure it was tight enough by tugging on the rope, which responded with a healthy twang.

"What are you planning to do, join the circus?" Tonio asked in frustration, cursing under his breath when he noted that he had broken a nail. He then shook his head with exasperation as he watched Eleni take a dive into her bed, face first. The elf girl looked exhausted. "You are going to kill yourself, do you know that?" Tonio said, undoing the leather straps from her wrists and ankles while Eleni lay there as if her lungs were about to give out.

"Didn't you say that you wanted to be an adventurer or something? You and your friends...Don't you belong to a group of wannabe adventurers?" Eleni shot back, groaning as she turned around to prop herself up on her elbows and noting her belly which seemed to pop up a little too much between her shirt and leather pants. She then started to do sit ups as Tonio watched. "You...have...to...work...for..it...be in...tip...top..shape." the elf girl gasped out with each crunch.

Tonio finally had had enough, and as Eleni came up, held her up by her shoulders and said, "Okay. Maybe I'm not an old seasoned pro like you when it comes to adventuring. And maybe you're right about me and my friends and our little adventuring group, that we're a bunch of frauds." Tonio began as Eleni looked at him with annoyance. "But I am a pretty good judge of character, you have to give me at least that because you know it's true. And do you know what? This black crow fellow's got you completely psyched out. What do you think you're going to achieve by doing all this? You've been at this for at least a few hours. I think you're playing right into his hands. He's got you so spooked that you're not seeing straight"

Eleni swallowed the initial words of retort, as her mind slowly processed what Tonio was saying to her. He was right, she knew and admitted to herself. Eleni let out a defeated sigh as she plopped back into the bed. "You're right. But Tonio, I really am out of shape. No, this is not just craziness talking." Eleni began as Tonio frowned at her words. "I know my own body. I know how I was many years ago. I can't do the things that I used to be able to do and it scares me." Eleni closed her eyes and let out a bone weary sigh, making the sheer canopy of the bed swirl slightly. "Forgive me for being mean? You have to understand. This has been a crazy day for me. First that black crow and now your grandmother, and this wedding betrothal thing..Having to give up my music career, which I am not going to no matter what your grandmother says. I know it's no excuse." Eleni admitted, and then smiled as Tonio plopped into the bed next to her and cuddled up against her, purring like a pleased kitten.


	7. Chapter 7

"Nae, my lord and my kin. Nae!" The dwarf woman's voice screamed as Duron sat on an ornate throne carved out of stone laced with veins of precious ore. As his eyes watched the dwarven woman fall to her knees and raise her hands in supplication, holding in her hands a crying baby wrapped in royal blue and purple blankets, that there could be, no, would not be any mercy here. "I cannae have yer seed remain alive...no one may carry on dis curse than I.." Duron's voice spoke in hollow, defeated tones, drained of all color save the crimson warmth of the blood on his hand. In his ears, he heard weeping of a woman that etched and clawed at his soul. He knew then that she could not live. She had to be killed as well... 

Duron was heavily in his dream, snoring rather heavily in his oversized bed, the curtains on his windows heavily draped and therefore offering little in the way of light or circulation of fresh air. The room itself was a mess and smelled of aged cheese, with dirty clothing and sheets of paper that literally covered almost all available space on the floor. What furniture that was present in this dreary little room was a small desk, once again full of papers and scrolls, as well as a rickety wooden chair that was propped near the entrance of the room itself. The carpet was heavily stained and discolored, and was bare in places. Over near one of the walls was a small mirror, with a stool and a small curio over it. Make up and powders as well as wigs were haphazardly stewn there as if someone had just merely thrown them there, hoping that they would remain in place.

And in this smallish room was a man, clad in black pantaloons and shirt, with his face covered with a heavy black cloth, looking over the dwarf with his arms across his chest.

It was then that Duron kicked out suddenly, catching the black clad man right in the groin and sending him flying backwards from him. The dwarf's hand flew right over to his bedpost as he rolled out, whipping out the rapier that had hung there in its sheath, while the man rolled to his feet, barely missing a chair that had been in the way behind him. "Not very sporting of you, is it chap, to accost a man while he sleeps defenseless." Duron began, his lips forming a smile as he leveled the blade at the man, covering his movement. "I, however, have no such compunctions, defenseless or no!" the dwarf called out as he jabbed at the man's chest, and offered a smirk as the man quickly moved out of the way. Duron merely adjusted, for the attack was a feint, and readjusted his attack in the blink of an eye, pushing the tip of the blade into the man's chest, smiling once again as he felt the flesh give way underneath the tip of his blade, but not deeply enough to kill. "Methinks, dear lad, that your answers on why you are disturbing my rest depends on whether you walk out of here alive, or flat on your back." Duron said casually and then added, "or worse"

The man replied in a nondescript voice that did not betray his emotion, as if he was merely taking about the weather. "I see that you have fared slightly better than your elf friend." He began and then did not react when Duron moved his hand forward slightly to increase the pressure on the blade. "Years have not dulled your senses, nor your madness." The man continued and then twanged the rapier that was stuck to his chest, ringing out a metallic twang. "Let us talk, you and I. I have not come to fight." The man said.

Duron chuckled low and replied, "What makes you think, my little black clad pretender, that I would not just kill you to ease my boredom? Why should I listen to anything you have to say, hmm? No...I would rather see you squeal like a little pig as I rip your heart out of your chest. It would be most sporting"

"You do, and I will kill Eleneth"

Duron's eyes narrowed as his left cheek twitched. "I have her. In my grasp." The man said. "You kill me, dear demented dwarf, then she dies. Simple as that. I am no fool to have walked in here to face you without a hidden hand to carry this out." Duron pulled the rapier away, holding it about him and at the ready as his dark eyes, as hard as glittering stones, fixed on the man. "Ah...seems I have hit a sore spot with you, haven't I. But I knew this too, when I came here." The black clad man said breezily, touching his chest and the hole that remained there. "Your first blow, dear dwarf, is a killing one." The man continued, reaching into his torn shirt and pulling out a bundled up cloth that had a hole punctured in it, tossing it to the ground.

"Who are you..." Duron asked, his eyes unwavering.

It was the man's turn to laugh, a low, rich laugh that made Duron's eyes glitter with anger. "Someone who knows who you are about, Duronar Anvilhand, once lord and master of Unther Hall"

Duron's eyes betrayed no other emotions than cold hatred as he spoke in whispers and replied, "You have now sealed your doom, fool. You know I will have to kill you"

The man's eyes narrowed at the dwarf's words and he replied, "I think not. Unless you wish to lose Eleneth. One way or the other"

"What do ye mean..."

The man continued, "They tell of a strange tale in Unther hall, Duron. A tale most foul in deed that this dwarf's name is cursed throughout all the lands of the dwarves. A tale of murder and deeds most foul. It is amazing what people will be willing to tell under a threat of death or a mere sight of few glittering coins. You have but to move me the wrong way with your words or your actions, and I will make sure that Eleneth knows all. That is right, your sweet little elf that in your diseased head replaces your past deeds. What will Eleneth say then, hmm?" When the dwarf remained in silence, the man continued, "You will leave the elf girl to me. You are not to have any contact with her. She is now mine to do with as I please. She does not need your diseased madness watching over her"

Duron remained silent as the man stared at him, and then the dwarf began to laugh, closing his eyes and rearing his head back as his grayish brown hair fell away form his soulders. Duron's great gaffaws of laughter rang out and shook the walls of his room. "Why, my dear, dear man. Why did you not say that you were infatuated with my little sister." Duron began as the man watched on. "So this is what this theatrical charade is all about. You, dear chap, went through all this trouble to ask me for permission to see my sister! I must say though, there was no need to be this melodramatic." Duron lowered his rapier and then continued in a good natured tone, "It seems to me, that my little sister has grown into quite a lovely young lass, of course under my careful and watchful tutelage. I knew that as soon as she reached womanhood, that men would be flocking to her like bees to a beautiful, blooming rose"

As the man started to reply to Duron's speech, he was suddenly attacked by the dwarf, who had silently launched a slashing attack across his chest, succeeding in drawing a thin, bloody line through the fabric of the man's black shirt and into the man's skin. It was the man's quick movements that spared him the certain deeper wound that would have proved fatal. In Duron's eyes were a maniacal gleam as he launched into a series of stabbing, quick jabs that the man quickly rolled away from, coming up with a small, curved dagger of his own to turn away and lock the blow that would have run him through in his eye. He was, however, not quick enough to parry the follow up blow that struck him through the broad part of his shoulder, pegging him to the wall of the room as he staggered back. "What makes you think that my dear little Eleni will believe anything you will have to say, hmm? And it seems to me, my dear lad, you're too taken with her to cause her harm. Now then, my masked fool.." Duron began as he twisted the blade that ran clear through the muscle that ran next to his neck. "You will tell me where you have hidden my little Eleni. That is right. Mine and mine alone." Duron demanded, kicking the man between his legs to cause him to gasp out and drop his dagger, which the dwarf caught in his hand rather deftly. "We shall play a little game, you and me. You tell me what you know as I start carving out parts out of your face. And then, we'll see just what neat new words you can make as we start slicing off parts of your tongue. Wouldn't that be a great spot of fun, hmm?" Duron threatened in calm, collected tones and then stabbed down at the man's raised leg, parrying his sudden kick and making him hiss in pain. Blood started to flow from the man's deep leg wound. Red, hot blood that oozed out of the leg wound and started to stain the faded carpet a dark spreading shade of rust. Duron readjusted the grip on the small, curved knife, and then as the man slumped against the wall in obvious pain, he stabbed at the man's cheek, and growled in surprise as the man suddenly launched himself against the dwarf before the stroke fell, running his shoulder through and up the rapier's blade in the process. Duron hurridly loosened his hand on the rapier as the man continued on past him, hopping over the bed and crashing into the curtained window with a loud shattering of glass and wood frame. The sudden burst of sunlight from the afternoon sun blinded Duron, and he instinctively shielded his eyes and blinked away the brightness that clouded his vision. When the dwarf's eyes adjusted finally to the light that streamed through the smashed window and between the folds of the curtain, he noted that the masked man was no longer seen.

The door to the room suddenly flew open, and a woman with unkempt, gold dyed hair burst in, clutching at an ill fitting and wrinkled blue robe aorund her thin body. "What is going on here?" She demanded and then saw Duron and the blood. She opened her mouth wider to let out a shriek, but the dwarf's glance let it die into a whimper that did not leave her throat. "Master Duron, are you...hurt?" the woman asked instead, as Duron walked over to the shattered window and retrieved his rapier, which was propped next to the smashed window.

The woman hugged herself as if trying to keep warm, even though the air that blew into the room was nice and smelled of autumn with its golden leaves and spiced apples. "It's certainly been a strange day. First that elf girl tried to smash down the door earlier in the morning...and now"

Duron's eyes narrowed as he heard this and then turned his eyes away from the faint drops of blood that was fast smearing into the grooves of the cobbled streets below. "What was that, my dear? An elfmaid you say?" Duron asked, pulling himself away from the window to walk over to the woman.

"Well, there was this elf girl, thin with black hair. Kind of pretty I suppose if you're into that sort of jailbait look. She said that she had to see you immediately." The woman continued as Duron approached closer. Instinctively, the woman took a step back from the dwarf.

"You didn't let her in, or inform...me, the master of this hall?" Duron asked calmly, slowly closing the distance between the two.

The woman shook her head, her hands that clutched at the robes around her chest trembling. "Where did she go? Do you know at least that...please be a dear and tell me. You have nothing to fear, my dear. For as the wise sages sayeth truth shall set you free, hmm?" Duron asked.

"I...I don't know. I chased her away as far as the griffon gates..." The woman began and screamed into Duron's hand as the dwarf suddenly plunged the dagger's point into the woman's throat, covering her screams with his palm. As her blood poured forth from the jagged wound, Duron let the woman's body slump to the ground, still trembling in her death throes, and pulled her into the hallway, closing the room's door.

"You have disappointed me to a great degree, my dear courtesan.." Duron said calmly over the woman, who opened and closed her mouth like a fish gasping for breath. Warm, red blood pulsed out of her throat as Duron watched the woman die. "Let your death wash away your sins, my dear. For you now sing with the angels, flying upon gossamer wings...Let this be your payment for your failure." Duron said as he calmly pulled the woman's body down the hallway by her feet. "Eleni, my dear dear little girl. Duron will watch over you. I will find you and we will leave this den of inequity. We will be together once more." Duron went on, his footsteps ringing out like death knells on the wooden stairs that led to the cellar.


	8. Chapter 8

Having been forbidden to join Tonio for his meeting with his pretend adventuring group, Eleni had spent the rest of the afternoon being scrubbed down in boiling water that almost scalded her to the shade of a boiled lobster, been fitted for a rather tight fitting blue slik dress with long, trailing sleeves that caught at every little ornament and door handle that was littered throughout the Colson estate as if they were there for that very purpose, and then was forced for hours in study with that strange blond haired woman servant, who called herself mistress Zana, the head of the estate servants, who recited every little bit of trivia and history of the Colson family from its inception when Waterdeep was just a pirate's port to its current holdings and business dealings and how the Colsons fit into the grand scheme of the city's bright and prosperous future.

Eleni was repeatedly tapped awake by the woman, who took it upon herself to do this, even though Tonio's grandmother, or as she advised the elf girl to call her, Grandlady Colson, had wanted to send Eleni to a tutor in the House of Nobles just up a few blocks from the estate to be taught both proper grammer and letters, of which she already knew since she was in the business to know these things due to her profession, and the complete history of Waterdeep as it pertained to the Colson family, of which special emphasis was to be placed in the roles and duties of the lady of the noble household. In any case, after what seemed like hours and hours of mistress Zana babbling on and on about how great the Colson family was and how extremely fortuitous and undeserving a mere provincial like Eleni was to be a part of it in not so many words, the head mistress' voice had finally given out, and Eleni was finally given permission to be released back to her room to prepare for dinner with the family.

The elf girl groaned inwardly when she noted that the sun was already hanging pretty low on the horizon to the west, but yet had not touched upon the white walls that surrounded the city. When the maidservants entered with her to ostensibly to prepare her hair and dress for the evening's dinner, Eleni shooed them away with the pretense that she was constipated and needed some time on the bedside commode to clean herself out, which seemed to have done the trick since the maids all made faces at her tactless comments and left her alone in her room. Tactless comments or not, Eleni breathed a hugh sigh of relief, finally having been left alone and given a chance to sort out her thoughts of this terrible day. Then, she saw that the rope that Tonio had put up was still left alone, and hopped on it, grabbing the iron bar that was left beside the bedpost. Trying to concentrate on being on the tight rope without falling seemed to do the trick for the elf girl, as all her troubles and worries seemed to vanish, her mind focusing on the task at hand. Even in her blue dress with its long sleeves and round, golden buckles around her waist did not dampen her balance too badly enough for her to keep herself on the rope, as Eleni's sandaled feet started to make little headway along the length of the rope, her balance being helped by the metal bar she used for counter balance.

"What are you about? Are you from the circus?" A voice asked from somewhere behind Eleni. What really bothered her about the voice, Eleni decided much later, was the cold casualness of it more than the sudden violation of her space.

"Don't you know how to knock? This isn't your room!" Eleni replied, hopping off the tightrope, supporting herself with the metal rod as she spun around to face her accuser. There stood by the doorway a sandy haired young man with wavy hair, and the coldest blue eyes that Eleni had ever seen, which definitely upset the man's rather delicate and refined features right down to his full lips and the smooth arch of his nose. He was dressed in those puffy sleeved silken shirts and navy blue pantaloons that Tonio was always fond of wearing, saying that it was all the rage this year, that particular ensemble. Yes, Eleni thought as she glared back at the man, the eyes ruined a perfectly good face that would have been otherwise handsome.

By the time Eleni had analyzed the stranger's features, he had apparently recovered from the shock of being talked back to, and he stiffened his glare a bit more, retorting, "How dare you talk to me this way, do you know who I am?"

Eleni walked over to the man, shouldering the iron rod as she swayed her hips in a mocking fashion. The elf girl's dander was finally up. She was getting sick of being prodded and pushed around by these so called nobles and this young nobleman's rudeness was the last straw. "No, do you know who I AM?" Eleni asked, getting into the man's face, groaning inwardly when she realized that he was at least a full foot taller than she was and she had to raise her head to look up into his face. But look into his face she did, with glare to match her attitude!

"Well then, who are you?" The young man demanded, not backing down either as he crossed his arms across his chest and stared insolently into her face. Eleni wasn't prepared for this outcome, and was flabbergasted as she stammered and then caught herself when she saw the look of triumph enter into the man's cold eyes.

"Why I am Eleni, of course. I am a musician. Currently, I am the songmistress at an establishment!" the elf girl answered haughtily.

The young man snickered and then replied snidely, "A bard hmm? How come I've never heard of you I wonder. Where is this fine establishment you play? The Green Flagon? The Gilded Crown"

Eleni faltered once again as she heard the names of the establishments, all exclusive clubs and hotels that the nobility and young men and women of good breeding were known to frequent. All places that Eleni had hoped to be able to play but dared not. "Well, currently I am playing over at the Green Griffon...looking for inspiration and source material...waiting for my next break..." Eleni let out, already looking deflated and trying to avert her eyes away from the man's gaze. She winced as he started to laugh.

"The Green Griffon! You have got to be kidding me. Isn't that one of the dives of the Dock Ward? Where the drunken sailors and down and out beggars drink away their sorrows?" The man replied amidst his laughter.

Eleni's yellow gold eyes flashed green as she replied with anger, "For your information, it is in the Southern Ward and is quite a respectable inn and tavern! And there aren't that many beggars because Mr. Jensen keeps their ilk out! Well, most of them anyway. There is this one couple that comes in every night that I help support. They're very old and the lost their home, and I can't let them"

The man rolled his eyes at this and cut Eleni off by saying, "I get you. You do not have to tell me your life's story. It is obvious that you are nothing more than some scum weed that grows in the gutters somewhere. Yet you dare presume to talk back to your betters." The young man then cast Eleni a second look and added, "Not bad looking, I will grant you. Broken many a peasant's hearts I bet with that dirt smelling mug of yours. A weedy flower, that's what you are methinks. Shall I call you a dandelion?"

Eleni narrowed her eyes, and then stomped hard onto the man's foot, grinding his toes into the carpeted floor. "Even weeds have pride, you...you...high brow hobgoblin!" Eleni retorted with all her might, feeling disgusted that she was only wearing those stupid strappy sandals that Tonio's grandmother forced her to wear and not something more substantial, like a steel toed boot. "I may not have been born to a noble family like you, nor have my daddy and mommy pay for whatever my addlebrains desires, but..but.."

"You have your beggar pride." The man stated matter of factly as if finishing Eleni's sentence, yanking his foot away, for it did not hurt in the least. "And no manners to temper them either. What is your family name anyway? As if I cared...Or did you just spring up from the ground like all weeds do. In any case, aren't all elves fond of claiming relations to nobility in one way or another? I am betting that this is where your impudence comes from."

Eleni stared at the young man in silence as he looked at her with impunity, with a crooked smile playing on his lips. When she replied, she was angry that her voice was shaking like a leaf. "I don't have one. I never knew my parents." She replied, the flood of emotions she had thought she had gotten over washing over her like a rogue wave, catching her totally off guard and vulnerable. Try as she may, Eleni was helpless to keep her eyes from glittering with tears as her mind, unbidden, fell upon the roads of her past that she thought she had mastered. "I may not have had loving parents that pampered me like you have had, I am sure." Eleni began, keeping her tears in check and hoping that they didn't start escaping from her eyes. She wasn't sure if she was more angry with the fact that she suddenly seemed to be an emotional wreck, or at the young man who seemed to know how to push her buttons with just a few words here and there. "And you're right. I did grow up in a circus. I may not have had parents that pampered me like you did, but I had friends. Life long friends who took care of me and were there for me when I needed them. And you know, if your manner that you speak so highly of comes from living like you do, then I'm proud that I live my life the way that I want, without being so false and so deluded that one thinks money and position actually gives someone the right to demean and look down upon people that do not have as much as you do. So go ahead and call me a weed all you like, but this weed is proud of who I am, and don'twrap myselfwith lofty titles or money to make myself feel better."

The young man turned his gaze away without a word, and then walked out of the room as Eleni watched, her words still hanging heavy in the air. The elf girl felt then that perhaps she had overstepped her bounds with the stranger, and let her temper and her current situation take advantage of her already swirling emotions. Afterall, it wasn't the young man's fault that a potentially deadly stranger had been stalking her without her knowledge all this time, placing her in danger, nor was it his fault that she had, with very little thinking involved, agreed to continue playing along to this ruse with Tonio's family, much to Eleni's annoyance and anger upon reflection. Perhaps all these thoughts and doubts of her words were evident on the elf girl's face as the man suddenly turned his gaze toward her. No words were exchanged this time, however. Instead, the man and Eleni stared at each other, the man's face unreadable, for several silent, wordless seconds until he turned around and resumed his steps down the hallway.


	9. Chapter 9

Eleni was feeling a bit out of sorts, to say the least. She was now in a velvety green dress with a trailing train and once again, long trailing sleeves that stopped rather abruptly near her elbows, and her hair was a network of laces and swirls that the elf girl could swear made her head feel much heavier than she was used to. She was also allowed some amount of jewelry to adorn her bare neck and shoulders, which made her feel extremely uncomfortable since for one thing, they were not hers and she was told by the 'grandmere' that if she were to lose any of them that she would be made to produce a male heir to match each items lost. The threat had unnerved the elf girl in the way that the old woman had so casually put it out, as if she was reading a laundry list.

Eleni also did not ever remember wearing a dress that seemed to bear this much flesh up top, and wondered if this particular dress was picked out on purpose to embaress her, but the two maids that had attended her, a brown haired little mousy girl named Evelyn and her polar opposite, the big and brawny looking lass with coiled braids and pigtails named Jenny, that there was supposed to be a special guest for this evening's dinner, and protocol demanded that she be as 'gussied up like a fall festival goose' as much as possible, in Jenny's words.

"So how many guests are we having tonight?" Eleni asked as she felt her long, black hair bound up with another ribbon to keep it from collapsing. The elf girl sighed as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She looked as if she was wearing a black turban that looked as if it was about to unravel!

Jenny gamely plucked out a few long strands of hair from the bundle to frame Eleni's face as she replied, "I s'ppose there will be the old missus, the lord, your fiancee, a captain of the guards from what I was told, and a prince."

Jenny frowned as Eleni tried to move her head to face her, and said, "Please madam, don't move your head..." She cautioned.

"I told you to just call me Eleni." The elf girl replied as Evelyn cautiously came over her side to tighten up the bodice another notch, causing Eleni to gasp out involuntarily and making her bosoms pop out like smooshed eggs. "I look ridiculous!" Eleni said exasperatedly as Evelyn murmured an apology and bowed.

Jenny shook her head as she adjusted the three stringed and bejeweled earrings that dangled from Eleni's earlobes. "Nonsense, mada..ehm..Eleni. You look beautiful." she said soothingly, critically eyeing the elf girl. "But my goodness, just how old are you, if you don't mind me askin'. No matter how hard we try, we can't make you look any older than this..."

Eleni replied, "I'll be 81 this coming winter."

Evelyn gasped at this and mouthed out the words 81 like a landed fish as Jenny blinked and replied, "I knew you elves were long lived and such, but you mark my words, missy. You don't look a day older than 16."

"I was also told that elves weren't supposed to take you seriously until you were at least 110..." Evelyn offered, and immediately blushed at her daring when she realized what she had just said.

Jenny gave her mousy little partner a mean look and then immediately turned to the elf girl, fussing with her hair once more, topping it off with a fresh picked petals of a deep red rose. "Here's what I would be doin' miss." She offered, looking at her work with a critical eye. "I'd be just keepin' me mouth closed and just nod once in awhile. Beggin' yer pardon, miss. But I don't be thinkin' they want you be sayin' much and all."

"Why not?" Eleni asked.

Jenny nodded in satisfaction and replied, "That's what great ladies do, miss. At least that's what the last elven lady was said to do."

"The last elven lady?"

"Aye, the last one. Lord Colson's own missus, before she mysteriously disappeared. Y'know, Lord Tonio's mother." Jenny offered.

Eleni gave a thoughtful look toward Jenny, and then admitted, "Tonio seldom mentioned his mother to me. And what little he had to offer wasn't much. Wasn't she a countess or some other?'

Jenny shrugged and replied, "Tis all before me time, I'm afraid. But I've heard talk that...well, I've said too much already and noble business ain't none of me business." The maid then gave Eleni a final once over, saying proudly, "I do say so missy, you look like those faery princesses in dem picture books. Lord Tonio is sure lucky to be havin' ye to wife."

Eleni almost blurted out a retort, but she swallowed it. Instead, she got up from her chair and quickly shook her head, causing her dangling earrings to jangle pleasantly. As if chasing away a bad dream, she took a deep long breath in, and let it out. "I'm ready." she said simply, and as the two women watched, more or less stalked out of her room in the most unladylike of fashion.

The dinner itself was a blur to Eleni. People were suitably impressed with her appearance, she supposed, since there were gasps and appreciative glances from the guests here and there. The former she took as the pleasant kind and not the ones usually associated with seeing circus freaks and monsters. Throughout the dinner time, the guests had made polite conversations that led nowhere since Eleni made sure to say as little as possible and let her answers be vague and confusing to say the least since they were, she thought, mostly nonsensical and altogether too personal in nature. The elf girl thought with some perverse satisfaction that either they thought her a confused idiot or an elf so fresh from the forest that she had not yet mastered the common language. She was feeling somewhat happy from the thought until she caught the grandmere's murderous gaze, causing her to spill her flute of wine all over Tonio's lap. She made a hasty apology and a rather poor attempt at cleaning up, and was thankful when she was allowed to make her escape when the dinner wound down to desert, and then social gathering in small groups of chatting noblemen and women over tumblers of pungent liquor that she found made her head swim and spin from the mere odor alone.

Eleni was rather thankful that she was alone now, leaning against the railing of the balcony that overlooked the Colson estate's extensive gardens. The distant sounds of voices and music was still drifting over to her ears from the interior, and to her such music was rather unwelcome. She felt completely out of place here and alone. Tonio himself seemed to thrive in such company, she found much to her chagrin. But why would he not? He was born to this life and to him, speaking of the expected winegrape harvest and what it would mean to this year's vintage was as natural to him as breathing. To Eleni, who thought herself a rather simple girl, such talks not only bored her, it also made her feel that she was an alien in a land where no one spoke any sense. She found out much to her depression that her earlier "acting" was not acting at all, but her ignorance in noble matters that she had not the faintest clue in. Eleni groaned at this last bit of reasoning and pulled apart her ridiculous hair net and the ribbons, letting her now frizzy, curled locks fall to her shoulders.

"Dinner wasn't so good, was it." A voice asked from behind. Eleni turned her head slightly to regard a youngish man with well trimmed blond hair, and dark blue eyes. He had a tiny little scar on his chin on an otherwise handsome face, and he was dressed in a simple tunic and what appeared to be leather work pants. Around his waist was a loose belt, appearing as if put around him as an afterthought. No sword dangled there however.

Eleni smiled weakly and replied, "No. I suppose not." She noticed that he held two flute glass in his hand on a silver tray, and took one from him, saying, "Thank you."

While the elf girl sniffed at the silvery gold content in the glass, the man took the other for himself, and looking around cautiously to see if anyone was watching, took a sip from it. Eleni laughed at this and clapped, holding her glass to him and taking a sip as well, feeling warmth from the intoxicating wine that was both sweet as honey and yet tangy like a mandarin orange. "I don't belong here." she offered as the man came over to her side, holding the silver tray in one hand and the glass in the other. "No matter what they're trying to make me out to be. I suppose you know that. I've heard the servants talk about how unfit I am to be ladying over them." Eleni continued, taking another sip and then adding with her cheeks flushed rosey, "This is really good stuff!"

The man chuckled at the comment, and then said, "I thought you may find it to your liking. It is feywine afterall." He then looked into the content in the glass with a mock seriousness to his eyes, and added, "The acid content in this vintage is quite low, as well as the natural tannins from the aged flowers that went into this particular lot. Not exactly the best out of this year, I know. But the summer when this particular vintage was made was rather cold."

Eleni giggled at this and replied, "You sound just like them. Have you been working here in the estate long?"

The man thought on her question awhile and finally shook his head and answered, "Not really. But I've been around enough of them to know their boring talks and the way that they prattle on." He then put the tray down on the marble handrail, extending his hand and adding, "I'm called Teril. Tery for short. My friends call me that." When Eleni took his hand, he quickly flipped his hand over and leaned down for a kiss on the top of her hand, getting up with a courtly flourish. Eleni bowed low as well, as she was taught. Her hair became more unravelled and fell along her shoulders as she did so like coils of black silk. Teril saw this and smiled, letting go of Eleni's hand. "Now what did you mean about not belonging here, if I may be so bold?" he asked as Eleni put one of her locks behind her pointed ear.

"You saw the way I acted in there, Teril."

"Tery"

"All right. Tery." Eleni said with a wistful smile. "I'm just hoping that I'll last enough in this household for Tonio to get his act together and be brave."

Teril raised his eyebrow at this and asked, "What will happen then?"

Eleni took another sip from the glass and replied with a sigh, "Then I will leave and go back to my life, my little apartment on top of a bakery. Oh..and of course, my music career. I am a minstrel, you know." the elf girl added.

Teril asked, "What about the impending marriage? We were all invited...I mean, this party was put together for the new betrothed to be for lord Colson, you know. And that person happens to be you, elfmaid."

Eleni let out another sigh and put her glass down on the silver tray. She then faced away from Teril, leaning her elbows on the hand rails which felt ice cold and smooth against her skin. "I am hoping that it will not come to that. Tonio just has to be brave and tell his folks about his preference. He is a dear friend and all. Well, he can be so dreadfully flighty at times and so like a little bratty child the next. But a friend nonetheless. He has been there for me when I was peniless in this city and had no one else to turn to." Eleni rested her chin on her palms as she looked across the garden and the city beyond. "I don't know just how far I can go for friendship's sake however. Marriage is such a sacred thing. Well, to me at least. But Tonio is in such a bind right now. I just don't know what to do."

Teril smiled at this. "You know, there were rumors of this beautiful but ice cold elf maid that was only marrying Colson for his estate and inheritance. At least that is how the rumors went. Among the servants I mean. We all know of Tonio's particular...affliction and we had thought that this elfmaid would have had to be an exceptional beauty to have changed his ways this quickly. Either that or ensorcelled him or poisoned him." He began, smirking when he saw Eleni's indignation on her face and holding his hands up. "I see that it was all untrue now. Well..save for your beauty." He added as Eleni rolled her eyes at his comments. "That much is very much true."

Eleni smiled at this and let her eyebrows relax from their furrowing. "You're too kind, you know. I think I am as plain as I can be. It's the jewels and the pretty dress that's doing it. Really." the elf girl replied and then turned her gaze once again to the garden. "To tell you the truth, I would not mind going back on the road again. Just to travel and see all of the sword coast and maybe even Rashamen. I would love to see the forests of Cormanthor too. And maybe even the bell in the depths that lies below the Moonsea." Eleni said as she tapped her finger against her temple to the beat of the music that flowed from the inner drawing room.

"It sounds like a lot of fun. But dangerous too." Teril remarked, looking into the elf girl's face.

Eleni laughed lightly and replied, "I've been as far south as Amn and even to the edge of Suldenesselar. Seems like such a long time ago though. I know it sounds rather silly for an elf to speak like this, or so I was told. Oh, and well back then I had a friend that was watching out for me. I was quite safe. Well...most of the time." She corrected herself

Teril raised his eyebrow at this and asked, "If I may be so bold, how many moons have you seen?"

Eleni shrugged her shoulders at the man's question, and replied, "Is it that important to know?"

Teril replied cautiously, "I suppose it isn't. I meant nothing by it."

"It's impolite to ask a girl about her age." Eleni answered with an impish grin. "Besides. I've been already told once today that I am quite young even by elven standards. I think one of your friends told me that we elves don't consider anyone important prior to passing the age of 110 or some such."

Teril returned her smile. "Guess you're even younger than that I can assume?"

"I'm not admitting to anything."

Teril laughed at this and said, "All right, all right. Enough about your age then. Tell me more of your travels in the past then."

Eleni considered the man standing next to her and then nodded, not losing her smile. "There was a time. So many years ago, although it seems to me like just yesterday sometimes. When I left the circus..."

"Circus?" Teril asked, interrupting

"Yes circus. I was an acrobat and a games booth operator. And a knife girl too." Eleni answered.

"Your parents were circus performers?" Teril asked.

Eleni's silvery gold eyes turned a shade bluer as she regarded Teril's question and then answered softly, "I never knew my parents. The ringmaster, Mr.Jenkins, told me that I was found on the side of the road near Baldur's Gate. A young elf girl with no memories of my past. He told me that I was half dead from an arrow wound to the back and that it was poisoned. I suppose that is why I can't remember anything. Or so I was told." Eleni let out another sigh, and then added, "Not that it is important anymore. All I remember now are the memories that I've made travelling with the circus up and down the sword coast and beyond. You know..." Eleni let out a forced giggle. "While I was with the circus, the life that I knew then. I couldn't wait to get away from it. It was as if there was this part of me that was left hungry and unfilled. So when I found an opportunity to leave with a mercenary company, I did." Eleni was smiling still, but it never reached her eyes. "I left it all behind. All the people that took me in when I had nothing. Mr Jenkin who was like a father to me all those years, teaching me to be such a good little girl and always gave me a party on the day that I was found, saying that it was my birthday. Timo the halfling magician who kept blowing things up and acting as if he meant to do it. Big Jole the strongest man in the universe! He used to have a hidden sniffer of whiskey in his belt that he used to drink out of before each performance. He had such terrible stagefright! Stavros and his son Nat the acrobat who taught me tumbling and tightrope walking...You know, the silly boy proposed to me and I shared my first kiss with him? He kept getting older and older. Everyone did. I never understood why until Mr. Jenkin told me why. I prayed to all the gods to let me age as they did. But they kept on growing older and I remained the same. Even though I had these pointy ears and I have seen other elves and half elves and they told me that I was one of them. I never associated myself with them. I never knew what it meant to be an elf even though they tried so very hard. Some of them even wanted to adopt me but Mr. Jenkins wouldn't have any of it." Eleni turned her gaze toward the evening sky, watching the stars twinkle like tiny silver beacons. "And I guess I still don't know what it means to be elven. I just knew that those I loved would die before I did and I had to watch them die. I...think that is why I left them." Eleni regarded the man next to her, half towering over her small frame. She felt her tears begin to fall but let them go on. "I know now that hunger I felt was fear. I ran away from the people that loved me because I feared for their deaths and I cared more for my hurt feelings than theirs."

"Lady..." Teril began as he cautiously wiped the tears from her face.

Eleni drew back from his touch, and then wiped the tears away with the back of her sleeve, letting out a nervous giggle. "I don't know why I am so emotional today. I don't know why I told you any of this." the elf girl said. "You must think me so strange. I'm not in the habit of telling strangers my life's story. Do you think it's the wine?" Eleni regarded the glass and then said, "You must understand, Teri. This has been a very crazy day for me. I don't know what is going to happen with all of this. Such important things are expected out of me by both Tonio and Grandmere and I don't even want to be here. I feel very much alone in this house. I don't know how I am going to survive living here. But I don't want to fail my friend. You understand, right?" Eleni sniffled.

Teril smiled kindly at the elfgirl and then ventured a friendly hand on her bare shoulder, saying, "I wouldn't worry too much. I really would not. I do want you to know that I understand what you must be going through here. But you know..." he said as he looked into her eyes. "I think truth should be what will solve all this problem for you. That and bravery to face the consequences. I know that you don't wish to fail your friend. And I think I can understand why. But you will not be hurting Tonio's feelings by telling the truth. You may be hurting him physically probably. I can just picture Grandmere Colson chasing after Tonio down the streets of Waterdeep with a poker..."

Eleni burst out giggling at Teril's words, and Teril pushed away a strand of Eleni's black tresses from her cheek, saying, "That is better, fair lady. Smile suits you so much better than tears."

"You're no ordinary waiter, Tery. Do you mix your drinks as well as you dispense advice and lend ears to crestfallen bethrothed to be?" Eleni said with a smile, edging away from his touch however. "I will remember your words. And...thank you."

Teril let his hand fall back onto the railing and returned her smile, saying, "My advice doesn't come for free, you know. We..waiters need our tips too."

Eleni replied, "I don't have any money on me."

Teril laughed at this comment, and said, "You don't need to pay me with any coins, fair maiden no longer in distress. I only ask one thing of you." When Eleni did not reply and her eyes were growing troubled by his words, he added with a friendly smile, "Allow me to call you by your name? Eleni? Like a friend would?"

Eleni nodded and replied with a smile, "Like a friend would."


	10. Chapter 10

chapter 10

Eleni stood at the side of her new bed, full of cushions and perfumed sheets. She had discarded her dress and was now in a simple nightgown that she had borrowed from one of the maids. Her eyes surveyed the freshly made bed and its frilly canopy of silks, and decided then and there that the bed was definitely not her, nor were the choice of rather expensive and altogether impractical(in her mind) choice of nightware that she was presented with by her maids earlier. After she had hastily chased away everyone from her room, including Tonio and his roundabout noble friends who were more interested in her past stories of adventure and her travels on the road, she had firmly locked the door shut and even ignored the summons of Grandmere who she supposed was to berate her for her awful, decidedly unnoble performance at dinner this night, along with her rather poor attempt at carrying on a conversation which she found the topics both dull and extremely irrelevant to her life. After being separated from Tery's company by being led away more or less by the insistent Tonio, who wanted to show her around to his 'adventuring group', she never saw the young man again. However, she was painfully aware that all throughout the night, the rude man with the sandy hair was watching her every little move with those cold eyes of his. It made her feel definitely self conscious and uneasy. To her eyes, the man had no friends it seemed. Everyone seemed to keep their distance from him. And those who did speak to him were very differential in their speech and deed, making Eleni wonder if he was the prince that was supposed to be present for the dinner this evening.

In any case, here she was now in her room for the time being. All to herself and alone with her thoughts which swirled with conflicting and confusing emotions and decidedly uncomfortable to boot. The elf girl began to miss her little room above the bakery very much then, with its familiar smells of yeast and fresh dough, the cozy wool blankets and her old familiar things that she had collected and purchased over the years with her meager songs and her dancing fingers upon her lute. With those thoughts swirling in her head, Eleni walked over to the window and opened it, letting in the cool air of the evening rush into the room. The window ledge was made of strong marble, Eleni saw, as she stepped on it and out, squatting there and overlooking the street below. Her pony tailed hair whispered against her back as the elf girl cast her gaze toward the row of buildings that stood out like a dark maze, half lit by street lamps. It was quite late at night now, she saw. The party, or what remained of it, was slowly winding down by what she heard. She began to review all that had happened to her in such a short amount of days. From the mysterious stranger that had drugged her at the roof tops to finding herself in this very uncomfortable situation where she knew that she was most definitely not wanted.

"There's a limit to what I can take." Eleni muttered to herself, getting up on the ledge and testing her balance upon the stone and brick work that made up the side of the Colson estate. She knew that she was quite high up from the ground, but knowing that made her feel somewhat free, for she knew that her fate at this moment was the only thing that she could truly control. And besides, Eleni reasoned, it wouldn't be a bad idea to check out this place from the outside. Just in case I have to make a quick getaway and leave Tonio and his weird family behind. She added morosely. Eleni wondered where Tonio's father was this night. The first few times she met him was through Tonio at various festivals and dances, and he seemed to be genuinely happy to see her with Tonio. He had said a few kind words as well and the lady he was with, whom Eleni had thought was Tonio's mother, had been kind to her as well. It was not until tonight that Eleni found out that the elven woman was not Tonio's mother but an escort from a famed brothel house. Apparently, Tonio had not told her that his father was a terrible philanderer that frequented high class festhalls, before and after his mother died, and would have no other woman to bed other than an elven woman. This she found out over water biscuits and port from Lord Horatio Carstens, Tonio's friend and his adventuring group's 'tracker'. When confronted with this, Tonio had told her with much contrition that he was ashamed of his family and had thought that telling her about her father's ways would have made Eleni think lesser of him. Eleni had almost replied sharply that it would have been impossible since she already thought his family completely off their rocker, but held her tongue. It wasn't Tonio's fault that his family was so irreparably disjointed, Eleni had thought, and such revelations did not help Eleni's already jangled nerves, causing her to excuse herself early and retire to her room.

A movement in her room then caught the elf girl's eyes, and she stopped, crouching low on the ledge. Eleni's eyes followed the figure that now came into her room, looking around. She recognized him almost immediately. The gray haired man with a mustache, dark brown eyes and those soft, kind hands that had gently smoothed her hair when they first met at the festival. It was Tonio's father. He was looking around the room, walking over cautiously to the bed. As Eleni debated on whether she should make her appearance back into the room, she noted that Lord Colson was rummaging through her things. Slow and deliberate at first, as if searching for something, and then appearing more and more frantic in his movements. Eleni felt her heart skip a beat when she realized that he was searching through her clothes, and she almost lost her footing and fell when she saw him take the dress that she was wearing that night and plunge his nose right into it, taking in large, deep gulps of breaths that she could even hear from her position. Eleni shuddered in disgust as she watched Lord Colson start to lick at the clothing, and averted her gaze away from the man. Friendship or no, she knew that she couldn't stay here in this household.

When Eleni stared back into her room, she saw that Lord Colson had finished whatever he was doing, and was now straightening out his clothing. He left the room as cautiously as he entered it, making sure that there was no one in the hallway first before leaving and closing the door behind him. The elf girl however did not wish to return to her room. She did not feel welcome in the least, to start, and now she felt as if whatever she started making of her new room was now violated and perversed into a place where she no longer wished to be. Eleni desperately searched for a way out of the Colson estate, her eyes scanning the nearby houses and buildings. Most of them were quite a distance away. Too far for her to clear the distance and too great a fall or a climb. Then she saw a rather opulent house with stone and iron lattice work just a short distance away from where she was. It was a distance that was far to jump, Eleni first thought. However, if she made a running jump she may be able to catch the ledge of a window that faced her. The elf girl saw however that to make the running jump would require her to place her feet firmly upon the ledges that surrounded the 3rd floor of the Colson estate without fail. With each of the steps of the ledge being maybe half the width of her feet, there was very little room for an error. One misstep would put her into the garden or worse yet, dash her brain all over the paving stones that made up the grounds in that section of the estate.

Without even further thought however, Eleni found herself already making the run. Each of her running steps landing firmly upon the ledge. She did not even feel the reassuring coldness of the stone upon her feet as she made her leap clear across the iron fence that separated the two households. In her ear was nothing save for the whistling wind and then the sound of her fingers being slapped against the marble ledge of the window she was aiming for. Her grip tightened as she hung there, dangling so high in the air with nothing below her save for the brick walkway three floors below. To fall from here would maim her, she knew. Eleni started to strain. Her arms felt as if they were on fire as her toes found purchase on the smooth stone wall. As her head finally appeared above the window ledge, she found herself looking straight into the eyes of a very wide eyed boy, who had his mouth agape in shock at what he had witnessed. The boy quickly ducked as a swinging cudgel came out of the darkness and smashed the window wide open with a loud crack, sending shards of glass past Eleni's face and down to the garden below, causing the elf girl to momentarily lose her grip and making her gasp out as her fingers and toes barely found purchase against the smooth, cold stones. As Eleni's eyes adjusted to the darkened room facing her, she quickly deduced two figures, one holding the cudgel who was already readjusting his swing against the boy, and the other taller figure with a glint of a naked blade in his hand, standing at the open doorway. Before the boy could cry out once more, Eleni acted at once without another thought, diving into the room and smashing into the man with the cudgel with her forearms. The blow did nothing save turn the man's attack on the boy, causing him to smash his cudgel against the wall and loosening a shelf full of books raining down upon his head and causing him to yelp out. As he blindly swung out, Eleni hooked his leather boot clad leg in a lock and tripped him forward and pitching into the open window.With so much forward momentum from the wild swinging, the man barely had a chance to let out a scream as he shot through the window, landing heavily with a thud down below. Eleni had no time to congratulate herself as she spied the man with the blade enter the room with hastened step, and let loose with a sharp object from behind her ear that flashed and whistled sharply against the cold air of the room. The small blade missed wide as the man merely flinched away. He smirked in response at this and said, "You missed, but I won't...Ow!!!" the man screamed as Eleni's knife, hummingbird, whistled back like a stinging bee, ripping around his left ear and cutting off a chunk of it. Eleni caught the blade once more and rolled forward on the ground, betting heavily that the response of the man would be to stab low, but not low enough. She had guessed right as she felt the blade cut through the air above her, and continued her roll and into a hand stand right below his chin, with both of her bare feet smashing neatly into the point of his jaw. The man screamed as he bit into his tongue, coughing up blood and getting knocked off his feet. His sword tumbled out of his grasp as he landed against the hallway wall, slouching there for a second and then hurridly getting to his feet, clutching at his bloodied mouth and then with a last baleful look at Eleni's face, running away.

Eleni debated going after the man for the briefest of second, but realized that because of her little night jaunt and exercise, she was now wearing her thin, filmy silk night gown above her waist, and hastily smoothed out the fabric down to her thighs. Her eyes sought out the boy, who was cowering in the corner of the room near the window, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you all right?" She asked as calmly as she could, her voice sounding tinny in her ear as the rush of adreneline of almost being skewered and beaten to a pulp worked through her system.  
The boy, seemingly about 11 or 12, blinked once and then stammered out, "Did...did my father send you?" His dark blond hair appeared unkempt as if a bird had nested in it, although even in this darkness, Eleni could tell that the clothing he wore was of a fine cut of expensive cloth, tailored to fit.

"Your father?" Eleni asked, deciding that the boy may be older afterall. Mayhaps 13 or 15...?

The boy slowly got up as Eleni added with a cautious whisper, "You should stay here. Who knows how many more are out there?"  
"I could take care of myself." He said in a voice bordering on annoyance, picking up the discarded sword. A half blade, Eleni noted. Good for stabbing and nightwork, perfect for cutthroats and assassins. She had often seen them employed enough when she had travelled with Duron. The boy swung it like a two handed blade, gripping the pommel with both hands. It was unpracticed, overeager swing of amateurs. "They just caught me unawares. While I slept, those cowards. But I thank you. Nonetheless." He added confidently, glancing at Eleni and softening his tone somewhat at her countenance. Eleni decided then that he was probably older, and crossed her left arm across her chest modestly, grabbing her right forearm and clearing her throat.

"In any case, child. I think we should bar the door. There may be more of them downstairs. I wonder if they're here to rob you..." Eleni began as the boy snorted at this.

"I am not a child. I am lord Grayson. Charles Grayson the third. Doesn't that name mean anything to you?" The boy asked. When Eleni shook her head, he replied, "You must be new to Waterdeep. Recently arrived provential perhaps? Judging by your...lingerie, I take it that you're noble born, although you fight dirty like a barmaid. No offense." The boy added hastily with a nervous chuckle. He then frowned and added, "What were you doing out there at the window?"

Eleni started, "Ahh...uhm...Well, I was, that is, I could not sleep. So I went for a stroll. Yes, and I heard the commotion up here and, well." As the boy looked on with open suspicion, she added hastily and with all the defensiveness tone she could muster, "Well it's a good thing I showed up when I did, that's all."

As the boy started to reply, the two of them both heard hurried footsteps approaching them from below, and without further thought, both Eleni and the boy closed the door, and helped each other bar it with anything within their reach, including the large bed that was occupying the corner of the room. "You climbed up 3 stories, hearing the racket. Incredible." The boy muttered as he noisily dragged a steamer trunk against the door. "Are you sure my father did not send you?"

There was an incessant knocking at the door as Eleni held her tongue. "Master Grayson!! Master Grayson? Are you there?" an older voice called out, trying to push in the door.

The boy's face grew relieved when he heard the voice, and began to move the furniture from the door as Eleni cautioned, "Wait! What if it's a trap?"

"It's no trap! I am here, young master! Who do you have there with you?! The lord Grayson expressly forbid you from bringing home a festhall lady, young master!" The voice said, causing Eleni to narrow her eyes in anger.

The boy cleared his throat as he saw this, and asked Eleni with a gentle voice, "Help me move all of this from the door. It is Dellen, my manservant. I trust him with my life."

The two of them took a few minutes to clear out the piles of furniture haphazardly, causing a few books and various vases and glass items to shatter to the floor. When there was enough room made for the door to open inward a sliver, a thin, older man with a bald head and narrow, baleful eyes peered his head through, with the rest of his bony limbs following after. He was dressed in finery, wearing a golden necklace with gems that glittered in the night like some gaudy costume jewelry. Eleni's eyes knew better though. "You must come with me young mast..." the old man began, noting Eleni standing there half naked and appearing uncomfortable. "What in the nine hells...pardon my harsh words, young master. But..."

Young Charles held his hand up, silencing his old servant, saying, "You will not besmirch this lady's character with your loose talk, Dellen." The old man glowered at the elf girl but held his tongue at this. "Get the horses ready, and the wagon. It is time that we left this city. My father told me that this day would come." Charles continued and then turning his gaze toward Eleni, added, "It would be wise for you to accompany us."

"Young master!" Dellen blurted out.

Eleni replied, looking befuddled. "I can't."

"I merely look out for your welfare...Ms..."

"Eleni."

"Eleni." Charles continued. "Doubtless, those men will not give up. Like it or not, your intervention in my behalf has earned you powerful enemies in the city. You will not be safe. Your best course of action would be to come with us."

Dellen countered sourly, "Young master. I must protest. I do not think it wise to bring this elven...hussy..."

Charles stopped Dellen's speech with a look, and stated in sharp, cold tones, "Dellen, I will not abide your insubordination longer. You will do as I bid. Prepare for our departure." As Dellen sullenly disapeared from the doorway, the young boy turned to Eleni and said, "I will explain as best as I can, as soon as we're safely out of the city's confines. You must come with us. We don't have much time. Soon, this place will be crawling with men just as these, all seeking my life." As Eleni watched on with an uncertain expression, he added, "If not for your own safety, then for mine. I will recompensate you for your help."

The elf girl thought over her options, and as the boy looked on with unveiled desperation in his eyes, she found herself saying yes, immediately regretting it. Part of her wanted very much to be rid of this place, this city, for at least a few days. With her current troubles mounting in several directions, including the unexpected perversion of Tonio's father and this stalker that seemed to have her number, this could be just the thing to bring her life back under some semblence of control. However, there was also the fact that she was plunging into this latest twist in her life with very little information and now she seemed to have unwittingly put herself into a heap of danger. Years later, when Eleni would look back upon the faithful night when she agreed and followed Charles out of the mansion and into the covered wagon, she would ask herself whether the gods themselves were putting their hands on her very head and nodding her head for her.


End file.
